Glass HL5 

» \ 
Book sLA 



GPO 



a 



ixinr 

.nil 27 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME 



Countries and Peoples Series 

Each in imperial 16mo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 
with about 30 full-page plate illustrations. 



Italy of the Italians 

By Helen Zimmern 
France of the French 

By E. Harrison Barker 
Spain of the Spanish 

By Mrs. Villiers-Wardell 
Switzerland of the Swiss 

By Frank Webb 
Germany of the Germans 

By Robert M. Berry 
Turkey of the Ottomans 

By Lucy M. J. Garnett 
Belgium of the Belgians 

By Demetrius C. Boulger 
Servia of the Servians 

By Chedo Mijatovich 
Japan of tpie Japanese 

By Prof. J. H. Longford 
Austria of the Austrians, and 
Hungary of the Hungarians 

By L. Kellner, Paula Arnold, 
and Arthur L. Delisle 
Russia of the Russians 

By H. W. Williams, Ph.D. 
America of the Americans 

By Henry C. Shelley 
Greece of the Hellenes 

By Lucy M. J. Garnett 
Holland of the Dutch 

By Demetrius C. Boulger 





'right Underwood & Underwood 

Haakon VII. Gustav V. Christian X. 

THE CONFERENCE AT MALMO 



SCANDINAVIA 

OF THE SCANDINAVIANS 



By 

Henry Goddard Leach 

Secretary of the American-Scandinavian Foundation 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
597-599 FIFTH AVENUE 
1915 



PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 



( 



PREFACE 



There are unmistakable indications in England and America 
of increasing interest in the contemporary progress of the 
Scandinavian peoples. These descendants of a once warlike 
race are devoting their untiring energies to experiments in 
the arts of peace. Although they number fewer than 
11,000,000 souls the Scandinavians have not failed to furnish 
the modern world with their quota of successful plans for social 
betterment, working-man's insurance, co-operative methods 
of farming, discoveries in physics, cunning inventions of 
mechanical devices, and important contributions to music, 
painting, poetry, and drama. 

The introductory chapter of this book is a brief review of 
the history of the three nations that constitute Scandinavia — 
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden — setting forth their relations 
to one another. Knit by racial sympathies and a formerly 
common language, these three peoples have been drawn 
even closer together by the Great War now, December, 1914, 
raging close to their borders. Subsequent chapters treat of 
their life and thought at the present day. Incidents from 
earlier periods are only touched upon in order to give the 
necessary historical setting. 

Temporary sojourn among the hospitable and warm- 
hearted people of each land, and intimate business and social 
relations with men of affairs, have resulted in the assembling 
of the facts and impressions contained in the following pages. 
Many have been my helpers and advisers. Their names, 
some of them, appear in the text. All are authorities on 
subjects bearing upon Scandinavia in the making. 

The " Onlie Begetter " of these chapters is the Honourable 
Maurice Francis Egan, United States minister to Denmark 
since 1907, whose enthusiasm for all things Scandinavian is 

V 



vi Preface 

irresistible, and whose unfailing personal helpfulness during 
the past seven years has impelled me to put pen to paper 
and express as best I may, the debt of gratitude I owe him. 

HENRY GODDARD LEACH. 

The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 
New York, December, 1914. 



Note. — The term of monetary value used in this book is the krone , 
which is equivalent to 13Jd. or to 27 cents. 



CONTENTS 



CHAP. 










PREFACE . 




V 


I. 


THE SCANDINAVIANS .... 




1 




PART I.— DENMARK 






II. 


A DEMOCRATIC MONARCHY . 




19 


III. 


RECLAMATION AND CO-OPERATION 




32 


IV. 


TRADE UNIONS AND SOCIAL INSURANCE 


• 


46 


V. 


CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY 






VI. 


IHE JbOLK HIGH SCHOOL . • • 






VTT 
V 11. 


TTOMTT T TTTT7 




83 


VIII. 


BEFORE AND AFTER BRANDE5 






IX. 


DANISH ART AND ARCHITECTURE . 




i no 




PART II.— NORWAY 






X. 


A NEW NATION 




121 


XI. 


BJORNSON AND IBSEN .... 




130 


YTT 
All. 


A NORSE ESPERANTO .... 






XIII. 


THE FINE ARTS IN NORWAY 




151 


XIV. 


ON SKI 




167 


XV. 


MOUNTAIN, VALLEY, AND FJORD . 




175 


XVI. 


HARNESSING THE WATERFALLS 




185 


XVII. 


FISHER FOLK 




194 


XVIII. 


FOLLOWING THE FLAG : EXPLORATION AND TRADE 


201 



vii 



viii Contents 

PART III.— SWEDEN 

CHAP. PAGE 

XIX. CONSERVATISM AND PROGRESS . . . 209 

XX. STRINDBERG AND LAGERLOF . . .221 

XXI. FEMINISM 233 

XXII SWEDISH ART AND ARCHITECTURE . .241 

XXIII SLOYD 262 

XXIV. VICTORS IN THE FIFTH OLYMPIAD . . 268 

XXV. THE NOBEL PRIZES AND OTHER ENDOWMENTS 275 

XXVI. SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS .... 283 

XXVII. ELECTRIFYING THE RAILROADS . . . 294 

XXVIII. THE FOREST PRIMAEVAL .... 310 

XXIX. MIDSUMMER EVE 316 

INDEX 323 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



haakon vii — gustav v — christian x . . Frontispiece. 

DENMARK 

H.M. CHRISTIAN X AND H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF 

wales facing p. 22 

THE LAKES OF COPENHAGEN. . . . 26 

MIDSUMMER DAY IN DENMARK . . . 30 

A FARM SCENE ,, 40 

THE CITY HALL PLACE, COPENHAGEN . . 46 

ALEXANDER FOSS. . . . . 64 

THE COLLEGE, HERLUFSHOLM . . . 80 

GEORG BRANDES 94 

ROSENBORG CASTLE „ 118 

NORWAY 

GUDUANGEN FJORD „ 122 

HENRIK IBSEN „ 132 

H.M. HAAKON VII. . . . . . 170 

NORWAY IN SUMMERTIME . . . . 176 

A FISHING STATION „ 180 

BIRD-ROCK, NORTHERN NORWAY . 184 

SAM. EYDE „ 186 

ROALD AMUNDSEN . . . . . „ 200 

FRIDTJOF NANSEN 202 

ix 



x List of Illustrations 




SWEDEN 




H.M. GUSTAV V. . 


. facing p. 210 


THE ROYAL PALACE, STOCKHOLM . 


216 


LUND CATHEDRAL .... 


258 


HERDALEN CHURCH .... 


260 


THE STADIUM FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES. 


268 


OSCAR MONTELIUS . . 


284 


A POWER STATION, RJUKAN . 


296 


A LAPLAND FAMILY .... 


304 


LAPLANDERS AT A RAILWAY STATION 


308 


LUMBERING IN SWEDEN 


314 


MAPS 




DENMARK ...... 


end of book 


NORWAY AND SWEDEN 





Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



CHAPTER I 

THE SCANDINAVIANS 

The Scandinavians exhibit a power of racial endurance 
rarely found among other European peoples. Two thousand 

years before Christ, in the Stone Age, accord- 
Endurance *° arc haeologists, the same family of 

Caucasian stock inhabited the valleys and 
islands of northern Europe that now dwell within the boundaries 
of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, — tall men, with long 
skulls, fair hair, and blue eyes, who met in the north-land 
a darker folk with rounder skulls whom they absorbed. No 
man knows, however, when or whence these tall strangers 
came. During the forty centuries of kaleidoscopic change 
undergone by the map of Europe their habitat has, in a 
measure, remained intact. At various periods the youth of 
this northernmost race of civilised man have gone forth to 
revitalise other nations, and thus Scandinavia has been a 
cradle for England, Scotland, Ireland, Normandy, Sicily, 
Russia, America. Yet this people as a whole have not, like 
other races, forsaken their ancestral hearths. Their boundaries 
they have, from time to time, expanded, to encircle the Baltic 
and the North Sea, only to be pushed back again gradually 
in the course of centuries, by nations more numerous than 
they. So stubborn is their resistance, that no foreign monarch 
has been able to extend his dominion over any one of the 
three kingdoms of the North. Protected as well by sea, fjord, 
and mountain barrier, their integrity has remained inviolate. 
When the great European conflict broke out in 1914, Denmark, 

1 



2 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Norway, and Sweden were free from entangling alliances, 
separated from the fields of carnage, prepared to preserve 
an armed neutrality, and to pursue the ways of peace. 

The origin of the word " Scandinavia " is hidden in the 
remoteness of time. If the explorer Pytheas of Marseilles 
visited Norway in the fourth century before 

" ScandinaWa." Christ > he knew lt simply as the land upon 

the borders of the earth, the Ultima Thule. 
The term " Scandia " or " Scandinavia " was first applied 
to the remoter lands of northern Europe, in the works of 
Pliny, the Roman geographer, in the first century a.d., and 
of Ptolemy, the Alexandrine geographer, in the second 
century. It is supposed that the name arose in Sk§,ne, now 
the southernmost province of Sweden. The geography of 
the word was extended by Roman writers to cover all that 
mountain-ribbed peninsula which dangles from the north 
of Europe, and in the middle ages the term came also to be 
applied to Jutland, the peninsula that rises from central 
Europe to meet it, and to the islands of Denmark that lie 
between the two headlands, in short, all the land inhabited 
by the kindred Northern race. 

Despite their differences in temperament and politics, the 
Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians were originally, in race and 

language, one stock. When referring to 
" The North." this kinship they are wont to call themselves 

" The Northern Peoples," and their lands 
" The North." The latter term is used in this book as a 
designation for Scandinavia. 

Like ancient Gaul, Scandinavia is divided into three parts. 
Out of a confusion of tiny kingdoms there arose in the early 

centuries of the Christian Era three nations 
Sweden. whose boundaries were roughly defined. The 

Swedes on the east were the first to establish 
a central government. They were mentioned by Tacitus 
in his Germania (a.d. 98) as a nation mighty in ships. Ice- 
landic literature records the exploits of their kings, the 



The Scandinavians 



3 



Ynglings, a dynasty of the fourth and following centuries, 
ruling at Uppsala. 

Denmark, to the south, came second. About A.D. 450, 
from among the petty kings who ruled the isles and headlands 

of the archipelago, there emerged into power 
Denmark. the royal family of the Skjoldungs, with their 

seat at Leira, a day's march from the site of 
Copenhagen. Like the Ynglings of Uppsala, with whom 
they intermarried and waged war, their deeds were celebrated 
after eight centuries, in Icelandic story, and by the Danish 
histoiian Saxo Grammaticus. Already their praises had been 
sung in England in the epic Beowulf, The Skjoldungs laid 
the foundation for a united Danish state. 

Norway, in the west, was the third Northern land to 
achieve national consciousness. The valleys that open up 

to the fjords on the western coast of the 
Norway. Scandinavian peninsula are separated by 

mountain walls that made it difficult for the 
most individualistic and independent of peoples to be united 
under one rule. In the ninth century came a chieftain 
claiming descent from the Ynglings of Uppsala, who was 
inspired to establish one kingdom in Norway, as Charlemagne, 
not long before, had formed one empire on the continent. 
This warrior, Harald, according to legend, vowed for his 
lady not to shear his fair locks until he had subdued all 
Norway to his rule. After a long struggle he had his will. 
In 872, at Hafursfjord on the west coast, Harald the Fair- 
haired shattered the last resistance of the allied petty kings. 

Judging from the character of the runic inscriptions, all 
the Northern or Scandinavian peoples spoke until the beginning 

of the viking raids at the end of the eighth 
Language century (a.d.) the same language, and regarded 

themselves even more than at the present 
as kindred folk. This language belonged to the Teutonic 
group of the Indo-European tongues, and is classified as 
" North Germanic," being midway between the " East 



4 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Germanic " of the Goths and the " West Germanic " of the 
English, Germans, and Dutch. As national differences 
became accentuated, the dialects of this common tongue 
grew into distinct languages, and Swedish, Danish, and 
Norwegian, in the course of centuries, drifted considerably 
apart. When written, modern Norwegian closely resembles 
Danish. When spoken, it has more of the musical intonation 
of the Swedish, and less of the soft-staccato movement of 
the Danish. The Old Norse is best preserved in the spoken 
language of isolated Iceland. 

The primitive progenitors of the Scandinavians who 
chose their hearthstones in the North were a sane and sensible 

and not a luckless people. After the axes 
Land ^ a( ^ Celled the forests, and the land had been 

cleared by fires, whether on Denmark's 
plains, along Sweden's green hillsides, or over Norway's 
mountain fastnesses, the grazing herds found good pasturage, 
and the soil yielded sufficient crops. True, it was a land of 
wintry winds, glacialis, as the peoples of southern Europe 
called it. To the Northmen were denied the yellow grain 
fields planted by the nations who settled along the Danube 
and the Dnieper, the warm sunshine and the red fruits of 
those who lived on Mediterranean shores ; but they had 
small craving for such luxuries. There were plenty of deer 
and grouse in the woods. Lakes, rivers, and fjords were at 
their doors, filled with fish. All tillers of the soil became in 
season hunters, fishermen. The Baltic and the North Sea 
were regarded as their own, and these waters were their 
boundaries east and west. On the southern border, south 
of Slesvig, near the present site of the Kiel Canal, the Danish 
queen, Tyra, erected early in the tenth century an enduring 
breastwork, called the Dannevirke, to ward off the Slavs 
and the Germans. In the farthest north, the Norwegians 
traded with the Lapps and Finns, and, following the Eskimos, 
colonized the outermost fringes of the earth, Greenland, 
Iceland,, and the islands of the Arctic. 



The Scandinavians 



5 



As the land, so the inhabitants. The salty air of the sea 

ever in their nostrils creates a thirst for adventure and for 

, knowledge. The Northern ozone expands 

~ Th ^ their chests. The rock-bound coasts and 
People. 

mountains have bred a rugged character 
and Spartan simplicity. 

According to credible statistics, the Scandinavians of 
to-day have the fairest hair, the bluest eyes, the longest 
skulls, the broadest chests, and the longest 
Physique lives of any race upon the face of the earth. 

Excepting the North American Indian and 
Americans of Colonial descent, they are also the tallest people. 
In view of their physical prowess it is small wonder that 
worshippers in mediaeval churches, during the era of viking 
incursions, prayed to be delivered from the furor 
Nortmannorum. 

Like the Englishman and American, the Northman is 
rational and practical, well endowed with what we choose 
to call " good sense/' At the same time 
Temperament ^ e * s more dreamy, more idealistic than 
English speaking peoples, though far more 
reserved in demonstration of feeling than the Germans. 

He is art-loving. Of old his ancestors were expert carvers 
in wood, and weavers of tapestry, reciters of sagas and fairy 
tales, singers of ballads. In modern times 
Laving North has produced such painters as 

Zorn and Munch and Skovgaard, such writers 
as Hans Christian Andersen and Henrik Ibsen and Selma 
Lagerlof, and musicians as Jenny Lind and Ole Bull and 
Edvard Grieg. Even in manufactures, industrial art, 
rather than the production of the purely utilitarian, has been 
the national ideal. 

He is also endowed with a strong religious instinct. 
His viking ancestors clung zealously to the faith of their 
forbears, the worship of the Aesir — guileful Odin with his 
eight-footed horse, his ravens and spear, god of battles, and 



6 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



guardian of chieftains ; and great hearted Thor, the Thun- 
derer, friend of farmers ; and Freyr, the blonde and beautiful 

lover of wedding vows. As late as the 
Religious. eleventh century these three gods were still 

worshipped in the temple at Uppsala. Our 
days of the week, Wednesday and Thursday, are named after 
Odin and Thor, while Frigg, Odin's wife, gave us Friday. 
When at length the Northern peoples were converted to 
Christianity, they were persuaded not so much by the word 
as by the sword. The Reformation, however, they accepted 
almost without bloodshed, and to-day Denmark, Norway, and 
Sweden are strongholds of the Lutheran faith. 

The Scandinavian is well informed. He demands for his 
children a high standard of education. Official statistics 

show that, in the first decade of the twentieth 
Educated. century, the percentage of illiteracy in the 

Northern countries was lower than in any 

other nations. 

He is soft spoken. Foreign visitors to his lands often 
comment upon the subdued and gentle tone 
Spoken °* conversation, the absence of strident 
voices. The great solitudes of the North 
are conducive to modulated accents. 

He is liberty-loving, demanding, if he be a farmer, the right 
to live on his farmstead as though it were his castle. The 
farm lands are owned generally by those 
Loving!" wll ° t ^ ie soi ^ While in Latin countries 
the peasantry are closely housed in villages 
surrounded by outlying fields, in Scandinavia rural dwellings 
are widely separated by their lands. Mediaeval feudalism 
never curbed the Northman. In Norway there is no nobility, 
and in Sweden and Denmark counts and barons live more 
as wealthy farmers than as over-lords. The Northman is 
probably the most individualistic of human kind. Accus- 
tomed to solitude, he thinks out his thoughts and asserts his 
convictions. He is also ardently provincial, loyal to his own 



The Scandinavians 



7 



island or valley, its story-lore and quaint customs. As 
nations, too, the Scandinavians are individualistic. Sweden 
and Denmark and Norway insist upon the right to work out 
their several destinies, each in her peculiar way. 

At four times in the world's history the hosts of the North- 
men have gone forth to seek new homes in other lands. The 
fruits of the native soil did not multiply 
o^Migmtkm ^ as ^ enou S^ ^° satisfy the physical exuberance 
and increasing fruitfulness of human life. 
Out of her superabundance the North imparted fresh blood 
to other nations. 

The first wave of Scandinavian migration occurred in the 
second century before Christ, when the Cimbri and the 
Teutones, forsaking their tribal homes in 

and C Teutones w ^ a ^ * s now Danish peninsula of Jut- 
land — one district of which still bears the 
name of the Cimbri — swept across Europe south to the 
borders of the Roman Republic. Italy was filled with dread 
of an invasion. But, as it proved, the times were not ripe for 
the Germanic migrations. Rome was then at the height 
of her efficiency. With his legions, Marius, " the second 
Camillus/' met the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae in 102 B.C., 
and the Cimbri at Vercellae in the following year. Their 
yellow-haired fighting men were cut down by the Roman 
sword, and their blue-eyed women, those who did not perish 
defending the wagons that carried their children and their 
chattels were taken captive to enrich the posterity of Rome. 

In the fifth century (a.d.), from this same peninsula of Jutland 
departed a host whose reins were rudders, and whose wagons 
were ships. Called to aid the Britons, the 
EngHsh Angles, Jutes, and Saxons sailed over the 
North Sea and conquered England. The 
Jutes were Danish tribes from the north, the Angles from 
the south of Jutland. The latter people dominated the 
subject Saxons who accompanied them. The only national 
epic which England has contributed to the world's literature, 

2— (2384) 



8 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, describes the achievements 
of Danish heroes left behind in the homeland. 

The migrations of the Cimbri and the English affected 
only the peninsula of Jutland. About a.d. 800 the kinsmen 
of these people from the Danish isles and 
Vikings * rom Sweden and Norway began to devastate 
the coasts of Europe, as summer marauders 
at first, later as colonists, and finally as conquerors. 

Norwegian vikings colonized the islands of the north 
Atlantic, the west coast of Scotland, and about the year 
840 founded at Dublin a Norse kingdom, 

^cotiand^cT Which St °° d Until the Normans came to 
Ireland. Ireland in 1171. The Norwegians joined 

forces with the Danes in their conquest of 
Northumberland, of Normandy, and of Sicily. 

To the Danes Alfred the Great, by the terms of the Peace 
of Wedmore in 878, was obliged to yield up two-thirds of 
England. Although in the century that 
ErMand and ^°^ owec ^ *he Anglo-Saxon kings of Wessex 
Normandy. extended their rule over the Danish colonies, 
all England was eventually conquered by 
another Danish invasion. Cnut the Great (1015-1035) 
changed his place of residence from Denmark to London, 
whence he exercised royal authority over Denmark and 
Norway. In 1066 England was in turn conquered by the 
Normans, whose ancestors were Northmen who had settled 
on the Seine under Rolf in 911. Thus through her successive 
invaders — Angles, Danes, and Normans — Great Britain has 
close bonds of blood with Scandinavia. 

Meanwhile, in the ninth century, when Danes and Nor- 
wegians were settling in western Europe, the Swedish vikings 
had sailed east across the Baltic, founded 
^R^issia 5 Novgorod, and navigated the Dnieper south- 
ward to the Black Sea, from whence they 
traded with Constantinople, the Mikla-Garth or " Great City " 
of Icelandic sagas. The Greeks called them " Varangians/' 



The Scandinavians 



9 



By the stolid Slavs these bright-eyed and wiry-limbed in- 
vaders were called the Rus, and the kingdom which the 
Swedes established among the Slavic tribes in the ninth 
century was the foundation of Rus-land, the Empire of 
Russia. 

In early American colonization the Northern countries 

did not figure conspicuously. The Norsemen, it is true, 

had made settlements in Greenland and 

J he . short-lived attempts to colonize the mainland 
Scandinavians i-xt^a • ic i r 

in America. °* North America nearly five centuries before 

Columbus discovered the continent. In 1638, 

the Swedes planted a colony on the Delaware known as 

" New Sweden." Although this region was eventually 

absorbed by the English proprietary under William Penn, 

the Swedish language continued to be spoken in the churches 

of Swedish foundation for nearly two centuries, and a 

Swedish missionary from the home-land died in Philadelphia 

as late as 1831. Many of Pennsylvania's most distinguished 

citizens take pride in tracing descent from the early 

Swedish settlers. Likewise, the Danes acquired in the 

New World the island of St. Thomas, and several smaller 

isles held to the present time and known as the Danish 

West Indies. 

The most recent exodus from Scandinavia, that to the 
United States during the nineteenth century, was numerically 
as important as any of the preceding. It 

Thr s e ouh lli0n dates from 1825 ' when a P art y of Norwe g ian 
Quakers pushed off from Stavanger in the 

good ship Restaur ation for a land of greater religious tolerance. 

In the forties the Swedes commenced to emigrate, and were 

followed by the Danes. Thousands upon thousands succeeded 

these. The new-comers readily adapted themselves to the 

customs of the country of their adoption, and rendered notable 

service in the Civil War. During the years 1881-85 this 

tidal wave of immigration reached its height, some 352,300 

Norsemen having sought the new country. According to 



10 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



the Census of 1910 there were 665,207 residents of the United 
States who were born in Sweden, 403,877 born in Norway, 
and 181,649 born in Denmark. The living inhabitants of 
the United States whose grandparents were natives of Scan- 
dinavia, numbered at least two and a half millions, or one- 
fourth the entire population of the countries from which 
they came. In 1914 200 newspapers and periodicals printed 
in Scandinavian languages were published in the Dominion 
and the States. 

The Scandinavians are settled in nearly every state of the 
Union, and engage in every sort of pursuit. The Swedes 
have a natural bent toward mechanical 

Occupations occupations. They become, many of them, 
machinists in factories, and construction 
engineers. In 1913 the City Engineer of Chicago and the 
Commissioner of Buildings in that city were both of Swedish 
birth. Swedes are largely employed in the steel and wire 
factories of the city of Worcester as well as in other manu- 
facturing centres. The Danes in America are more often 
distinguished as artists, writers, teachers, and professional 
men. The Norwegians are developing extensive farm lands 
in the middle west. Inheriting patience and frugality, wont 
to raise crops under extreme handicaps on the rocky slopes 
of Norway, the descendants of Olaf, Erik, and Torstein find 
it an easy matter to gather abundant harvest from virgin 
American soil. Their commodious red barns rise from the 
plains as evidences of their thrift. 

The sons of the Northmen are taking their places as leaders 

in American public life, especially in the States of the middle 

west, where they have settled in greatest 

Leaders in num b ers — Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnes- 
Pubhc Life. 

ota, and North Dakota. In 1913 there were 
eighteen Scandinavian-born senators and representatives in 
the National Congress. One State, Minnesota, has had 
three Swedish American governors — Lind, Johnson, and 
Eberhardt. 



The Scandinavians 



11 



All three Northern peoples contribute to the New World 
of their independence of thought, their powers of physical 
endurance, their thrift, and indomitable 

A Asset nal s P irit Since the last half of the ei g hteenth 
century, America has received no more 

stimulating addition to the life blood of her people than the 

pure strain of immigration from Scandinavia. 

The immigrants keep in close touch with the home countries. 

Not a summer passes that many of them do not cross the 

ocean to attend some national festival, or 
the^Sea take part in some family reunion. So large 

an amount of money is forwarded by wage- 
earners from the United States to Scandinavia, that econo- 
mists are led to conclude that the financial return to the home 
countries compensates for the loss of men by emigration. 
In recent years this exodus has been abating automatically 
with the increasing economic awakening of the North. 

A brief review of the political history of the three Scan- 
dinavian nations may aid to explain their relations one to 

the other. The height of Norway's political 
of e ^rway 7 g reatness was during the thirteenth century 

under the reign of Haakon the Old (1217-63), 
whose dominion extended over the Norse colonies in the 
Shetland Islands, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, the Faroes, 
Iceland, and Greenland. King Haakon maintained a flourish- 
ing trade with England, was crowned with impressive cere- 
monies by the emissary of the Pope, gave one of his daughters 
in marriage to a Spanish prince, and entered into diplomatic 
relations with practically all the rulers of Europe. He died 
in the Orkney Islands in 1263, while conducting a naval 
expedition against Scotland. From this period of splendour 
Norway declined as a world power. In 1380 she entered 
into a union with Denmark, which lasted more than four 
centuries, and resulted in Norway becoming virtually a 
Danish province. In 1814 this relation was abruptly ter- 
minated, and Norway joined with Sweden in a dual monarchy. 



12 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



This union lasted until 1905, when Norway declared her 
complete independence, and chose her own king to fill the 
long vacant throne of the Haakons. 

The empire of Cnut the Great in the eleventh century 
represented Denmark's greatest territorial expansion. Al- 
though England was lost to them in the 
o/^enmark cen turies following, the kings of Denmark 
were extending their dominion eastward along 
the southern Baltic, subduing the Slavic Wends, and assuming 
the title borne to this day by Danish rulers, — " King of the 
Danes and Wends." In 1219, Valdemar the Victorious 
made Esthonia — far east on the Gulf of Finland almost to 
the site of Petrograd — a Danish province ; that time the 
Dannebrog, the Danish standard, according to tradition, 
fluttered down from heaven upon the army, and its emblem 
was set in the arms of Reval, a city founded by the Danes. 

During the fourteenth century Denmark was forced to 
dispute the mastery of the Baltic with the Hanseatic League 
of German traders, who had established 
Dedlne themselves even at Visby in the mid^t of 
the sea. Gradually bands of German colon- 
ists were creeping north, across the marshes to the Baltic's 
southern shores, and crowding out the Slavic natives and 
the Danish garrisons. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth 
centuries there were lamentable wars with Sweden, bloody 
battles with the " brother folk " on land and sea, brightened 
by the exploits of Danish heroes, — Rantzau and Juel, Hvit- 
feldt and Tordenskiold, and King Christian IV (1588-1648) 
who " stood by the high mast, 'mid smoke and spray." 
With the advance of Prussia the influence of Denmark 
declined. 

In 1848-50 a successful war was waged with this new power. 
In 1864, however, the allied armies of Prussia and Austria 
burst through the Dannevirke, the breastwork that for near 
a thousand years had been the southern barrier of Scan- 
dinavia, and won in the trenches of Dybbol a hard-fought 



The Scandinavians 



13 



victory. Denmark was compelled to cede the rich duchies 

of Holsten and Slesvig. 

Sweden played no important part in the world's history 

until King Gustaf Vasa in 1523 drove out the Danes, who 

for more than a century had controlled her 

The Rise destinies, and ref ounded Sweden as a Lutheran 
of Sweden. ' 

state. Her army became thereafter the 

militant defenders of Lutheranism, and in the seventeenth 

century their victories converted the Baltic into a Swedish 

lake. 

On Midsummer Eve, 1630, King Gustaf Adolf — or Gustavus 

Adolphus, as he is popularly known outside of Scandinavia — 

the noblest warrior the North has ever pro- 

Gustavus duced, landed in Germany at the head of an 
Aaolpnus. . . J 

army trained m Sweden to succour the 

oppressed Protestants of Europe. According to tradition, 

Gustavus received on that occasion a sword from heaven 

which is pictured in a contemporary copper plate. This 

" Lion of the North " swept irresistibly over Germany. 

Wallenstein, who derisively called him the " Snow King," 

was made to realise that the snow does not readily melt in 

the North. After a series of successes against great armies, 

Gustavus fell in the arms of victory, 6th November, 1632, 

on the field of Liitzen. His spirit lived on in his armies, 

who remained in Germany under brilliant Swedish generals 

for sixteen years, and played a deciding part in bringing to 

an end the Thirty Years' War. 

Gustaf Adolf had dreamed of a Swedish world empire — 

a vision partly realised by the acquisition of the provinces 

south of the Baltic. For centuries, Finland 

Th f had been a Swedish province. In 1658 the 
Encroachment . , -~ i *• oi , 

of Russia. cession by Denmark of Skane extended her 

territory to the southern tip of the peninsula. 

In the seventeenth century also, the colony of Sweden was 

planted on the Delaware. But her domain soon began to 

shrink after Peter the Great planned the systematic advance 



14 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



of Russia toward a northern outlet. Peter took the Swedish 
fortress on the Neva and laid, in 1703, the foundation of 
Petrograd. Under Carl XII (1697-1718), " the mad monarch 
of the North/' the Swedes again assumed the aggressive, 
and carried the war far into Peter's own territory until the 
defeat at Pultava in 1709. Although this campaign resulted 
in disaster and great economic suffering for Sweden, it served 
in a measure to blunt the edge of Russia's headlong pressure. 
Peter ultimately acquired the Swedish provinces south of 
the Gulf of Finland, and, later in the century, the partition 
of Poland brought the boundaries of Russia south to Prussia, 
near the Memel River. In 1809 Sweden was obliged to 
relinquish Finland also to Russia. For a century Finland 
was regarded as a buffer between Sweden and Russia, but of 
late its Russification has proceeded rapidly, and military 
railroads place the length of its western coast within easy 
reach of Petrograd. 

During the later centuries two great powers, Russia and 
Prussia, have grown up to threaten the political existence 
of the Northern nations ; the former in need 

Neutrality ° f an °P en P ° rt 011 the Atlantic > or the North 
Sea, to be reached by crossing Sweden and 

Norway ; the latter eager to control the passage from the 

North Sea into the Baltic, and to spread over Denmark the 

doctrine of pan-Germanism. Thus, before the outburst 

of general war in 1914, Sweden was arming against Russia 

and making every effort to maintain friendly relations — in 

commerce, in politics, and in education — with the German 

Empire. Denmark, on the other hand, was vigilant against 

Germany, and fostered a friendship for England. Norway 

looked also to England for support, and cultivated a polite 

suspicion of Germany as well as of Russia. 

In the summer of 1914 came the war long expected by the 

Scandinavian peoples. But luckily the Russian Bear did not 

proceed to devour Sweden and Norway, nor did the Kaiser's 

Zeppelins molest Copenhagen. Scandinavia was saved from 



The Scandinavians 



15 



invasion by the fact that Russia and Prussia were at war, 
the surest defence for the North. The war had the effect 

of bringing the three countries closer together 
1914 War. in spirit than for many years before. On 

8th August, the governments of Sweden 
and Norway agreed to maintain their neutrality, and ex- 
changed binding assurances with a view to preclude the 
possibility that the condition of war in Europe might lead 
to hostile measures being taken by either country against 
the other. On 16th August, a Peace Monument was raised 
with impressive ceremony on the boundary between Norway 
and Sweden to commemorate a century of good fellowship 
between the nations. After a few weeks of breathless sus- 
pense the three countries resumed their normal life, grateful 
that it was not war, but only its shadow which had fallen 
upon them. 

During the summer, before the outbreak of the war, 
at Christiania in Norway, and at Malmo in Sweden, two 
exhibitions were held that served to record 

A Retrospect ^ e ^ nterna -l expansion of the Northern 
nations during the last half century. The 
Norwegians welcomed " Norway Abroad," as the emigrated 
Norway in the United States was called, to celebrate the 
one hundred years of a free constitution. At Malmo, Sweden 
invited the other three nations of the Baltic — Denmark, 
Germany, and Russia — as friendly rivals to send their own 
exhibition of arts and industries. Denmark, in this year of 
jubilee, celebrated the success of her efforts during the fifty 
years since the Prussian War, in winning back by intensive 
cultivation of the soil more than she had lost to Prussia. 
Revival of agriculture had spread also to Sweden and Norway. 
Sweden, meanwhile, had come to realise the industrial possi- 
bilities latent in her mines, her waterfalls, her inventions, 
and was on the way to become a wealthy nation. Denmark 
and Norway also had achieved success in manufacturing. 
In Norway, two great poets, Ibsen and Bjornson, had caused 



16 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



an intellectual renaissance throughout Scandinavia. In 
solving problems of social betterment, likewise, the Northern 
countries had led the way for other nations. 

Foreign visitors often ask why the three Northern peoples 
do not sit down together in one parliament under one ruler. 

The answer is found first of all in the marked 
T M P ferences tal ind i v i dualism of these races, expressed by 
their differences in temperament and character. 
The Swede is conservative, courtly, extravagant, magnanimous, 
a lover of nature and her image in art. The Dane is rational, 
free-and-easy, saving, indifferent to outward appearance, 
genial and humorous, a student of social problems, a gifted 
conversationalist whose chief amusement is his study of his 
fellow-men. With the Norwegian the idea is more important 
than the fact. The Norwegian is, in respect to his individual- 
ism, the extreme Northern type, severely simple in his 
physical needs, vigorously independent, luxuriating in the 
wealth of his dreams. To sum up, the Swedish character 
may best be studied as man in his relation to nature, the 
Danish as man in relation to his fellow-men, the Norwegian 
as man in relation to his ideals. 

Deeply rooted as is the sense of* triple nationality, this 
fact has not prevented the occasional union of one Scan- 
dinavian government with another. Cnut 
A S Unfon aVian the Great extended his sovereignty over 
Norway as well as England and Denmark. 
In the fourteenth century Norway was ruled by Swedish 
princes, for 400 years by the Danish monarchs, and during 
the nineteenth century again by Swedish kings. Only once 
have all three nations been united under one crown, and this 
in 1397, when Queen Margaret of Denmark and Norway, 
by the Calmar Union, was accepted queen also of Sweden. 
This Union persisted nominally until the rise of the Swedes 
under Gustaf Vasa in 1523. While these experiments at 
union have proved futile, the rebound of both Sweden and 
Norway since the separation of 1905 has made evident that 



The Scandinavians 



17 



each nation is healthiest when permitted to work out alone 
her own salvation to her maximum of efficiency. 

Nevertheless, there are three means of co-operation which 
these nations might Readily adopt : a triple alliance for offence 
and defence, in which each would be required to assume her 
full share of responsibility ; the levelling of tariff walls 
among the three ; and a permanent international commis- 
sion or parliament. The War of 1914 has manifestly streng- 
thened the solidarity of the three peoples. In taking common 
counsel upon all international issues there is nothing to 
prevent Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, each preserving a 
complete autonomy and sovereign integrity, from constituting 
a " United States of Scandinavia/' 



PART I—DENMARK 



CHAPTER II 

A DEMOCRATIC MONARCHY 

In certain quarters of Denmark the outbreak of war in 1914 
brought a feeling akin to relief. For fifty years, since the 

loss of Slesvig-Holsten, the Danish people 
Nei ^t!onai and wa ^ c ^ ec ^ apprehension the increasing 

Defence. power of Prussia, and awaited the hour for 

the German fleet to appear off Copenhagen. 
In the event of war between England and Germany it was 
presumed that the Kaiser would, for reasons of military 
necessity, lay hands at once on Denmark for a naval base. 
At last war came, but to Denmark's surprise she was spared, 
and the fate she had dreaded was reserved for Belgium. 

During these fifty years the question of national defence 
was uppermost in the minds of the people, and upon this 

issue political parties rose and fell. In 1902 
A Issue Cal a £* e f ence Commission was appointed by the 

government that after six years of considera- 
tion submitted a report in three large quartos. All parties 
were agreed that, if the country was to be defended at all, 
the extent of defence should be concentrated upon the island 
of Sjaelland, and about the city of Copenhagen. As to the 
extent of this defence, there was a great divergence of opinion. 
Extreme conservatives advocated expensive fortifications by 
land and sea, new forts, a larger army and a larger fleet. The 
Socialists cried for disarmament, insisting that it was useless 
to defend such a small country against any of the larger powers, 
to whom a fortified Copenhagen would be but a tempting 
prize. In 1909 a compromise was effected by the Ledreborg 
Ministry, and a law passed which provided that the fleet and 

19 



20 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



the coast defences should be strengthened, but that all the 
land forts behind Copenhagen should be abandoned in the 
year 1922. Shortly after hostilities began in 1914, the 
Government decided to bar out the belligerents by closing in 
both directions the passages from the North Sea into the 
Baltic, and laid mines that made it impossible for vessels to 
pass through the Oresund without a pilot. The approaches 
to Copenhagen are also well guarded by island forts, and by 
a small but efficient fleet of submarines. The navy consists 
of four modern coasting cruisers, twenty-four torpedo boats 
and submarines, two mine ships, and a reserve of older vessels. 

Military service, as in the other Scandinavian countries, 
is compulsory. Every youth between the ages of 18 and 25 

is obliged to undergo camp training for at 
Army * east s * x mont hs. If he is selected for the 

cavalry or artillery, his term is a year and a 
half. Subsequently he may be called out for two periods of 
twenty-five days, and one of six days. The Danish soldier 
youth in his blue fighting togs does not measure up in marshal 
bearing to veterans on parade. With easy-going ways 
and keen sense of humour, he shrinks from the mock-heroic — 
even war has its human side— but in action he is dangerous, 
and will fight with bulldog grit. His officers are sprucely 
tailored in broadcloth of " Copenhagen " blue ; they, together 
with the recruits, make up the standing army. In time of 
peace it numbers 10,000 men. Its war footing would reach 
100,000. 

The Gliicksborg Dynasty now directing the affairs of 
Denmark was founded in 1863, when Prince Christian of 
Gliicksborg, descended from the ruling house 
"^ n e ° ld of Oldenborg, took the throne as Christian IX. 

Through a reign of forty-three years, that 
ended at his death in 1906, after the initial catastrophe of the 
Prussian War, he guided the complex destinies of the imperilled 
nation wisely and well, winning the respect and affection of 
all political parties. 



A Democratic Monarchy 



21 



He and his wife, Queen Louise, also fortified the inter- 
national prestige of the country by making excellent marriages 
for their three beautiful daughters. Alexan- 

™^ ? oy f* dra became Queen of England, Daermar 
Matchmaker. « . 6 ' , b , 

Empress of Russia, and lhyra Duchess of 

Cumberland. Indeed, Christian IX has been called the 

" Grandfather of European Courts." His son, Prince George, 

was called to rule over Greece. When Norway, in 1905, 

became a new nation, his grandson, Carl, younger brother of 

the Heir Apparent, was chosen king under the title of Haakon 

VII. 

During the lifetime of " the old King/' as he came to be 
called affectionately by his subjects, the home-like castle of 
Fredensborg in the forests of northern 
D °Ufe StiC Sjaelland was in summer a rallying place for 
the crowned heads of Europe. Here the Czar 
of all the Russias was wont to put aside the cares of state. 
It was characteristic of the simple life of the Danish court 
that Queen Louise once affirmed that, whenever King Christian 
was ill, she prepared with her own hands all the food which 
passed her husband's lips. 

Queen Alexandra and Empress Dagmar spend the summer 
months in their native land at their villa of Hvidore, on the 
shores of the Oresund, north of Copenhagen, 
Ale^idra looking out at the ships that sail past 
Hamlet's Elsinore. Their arrival in the 
harbour of the capital is evidenced by the presence of the 
Royal yacht Albert and Victoria, and the Imperial yacht Polar 
Star, both familiar to the people of Copenhagen. 

Frederik VIII, who succeeded his father in 1906, came to 
his end after a short reign, in a manner that affords an ex- 
cellent commentary upon the democratic 
Frederik VIII. ways of Danish kings. He was returning 
from abroad in 1912, and, with his suite, 
registered at a hotel in Hamburg under an assumed name. 
According to his custom he went out in the evening unattended 



22 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



to mingle with the people, when he was stricken with a violent 
attack of illness and fell in the street. Unrecognised, he was 
picked up and taken to a hospital, but died on the way, and 
his body was consigned to the public morgue. Here the 
corpse of the King remained during the hours of the night, 
until it was identified by members of his household who came 
in search of him. He died, as he had preferred to be called, 
" The Friend of the People." 

His son, Christian X, has enjoyed the loyal support of all 
his subjects since the hour he took the oath of his high office, 

in 1912, when, before the assembled concourse, 
Christian X. from the balcony of Amalienborg Palace in 

Copenhagen, he expressed the object of his 
reign in the words, " Denmark's future, Denmark's freedom, 
Denmark's independence shall be my goal." As did his 
father, King Christian mingles freely with the people ; he is 
a soldier who has worked his way up from the ranks, and 
learned the ways of ready comradeship. Immediately after 
assuming the crown, he began a series of visits, informal and 
often unexpected, to the various parts of his dominion, 
where he discussed intimately with the people their local 
affairs, and sought to learn their attitude toward national 
issues. 

For example, in June, 1913, the Kings yacht appeared 
off the island of Bornholm, a Danish possession in the Baltic. 

The governor of the island and the burgo- 
1 Visfts 3,1 mas ter of Ronne, the capital town, donned 
their uniforms and hastened down to the 
dock to welcome their royal visitor. As the story is told, 
the court entourage wished to proceed across the island, but 
discovered to their chagrin that there were no automobiles. 
His Majesty professed surprise at this state of affairs, until 
the burgomaster showed him a law enacted some days earlier, 
with the royal signature attached, providing that no automo- 
biles should be allowed on the island of Bornholm. Another 
incident illustrating the fraternal spirit of the King occurred 



Copyright Underwood ; & ' U nderwood 

H.M. CHRISTIAN X AND H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES 



A Democratic Monarchy 



23 



at the boys' school of Soro, where, on one occasion, he came 
to dine. It is related that at this time King Christian did 
not follow the court formula in drinking the first toast with 
the governor of the province, who was also present. He 
drank first of all with the oldest professor and then with the 
duks or senior student. Upon leaving the school, His Majesty 
was accompanied to the railroad station by enthusiastic 
boys who waved him a cordial farewell. So accustomed are 
the people to the King's sudden coming and going, that a 
parson in Jutland was heard telling his wife to have good wine 
in the cellar, " for no one knows what day His Majesty may 
run over to honour us with a visit." 

King Christian's summer residence is Marselisborg, 
near the city of Aarhus on the Jutland coast. This palace 
was a gift to the King while he was Heir 

Marselisborg Presumptive, paid for by popular subscription. 

He is the first king who has lived in Jutland 
for many a century. It will be remembered that the historical 
Hamlet, not the Hamlet of Shakespeare, was a prince of 
Jutland in one of the early centuries of the Christian era. 
To Marselisborg King Christian comes every summer, accom- 
panied by his wife, Alexandrine, formerly Duchess of Mecklen- 
borg, whom he married in 1898, and their two sons, Crown 
Prince Frederik and Prince Knud. The life of the Royal 
Family at their country seat is most happy. In the forest, 
King and Queen are often seen on their morning walk, or 
driving in a light hunting buckboard, the King acting as 
coachman, and the Queen and the two Princes sitting behind. 
The Crown Prince and his brother play with the boys of the 
neighbourhood. 

The household of Marselisborg is conducted as simply as 
the homes of the merchants of Aarhus. Royalty devotes 
many hours to work. It is said that the King often sits at 
his writing table until after midnight, when the rest of the 
castle is asleep. He rises at 6.30, and begins the day with 
a ride. 

3— (2384) 



24 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



When at Copenhagen, the King holds public audiences 
on Monday mornings at his official residence, Amalienborg 
Palace. At this time the humblest subject 
Audiences. may present a petition, and he is sure to be 
given an opportunity to discuss his grievance 
with some high official, if not the King himself. Those who 
are received personally by Christian X are impressed, at first 
sight, by his great height, considerably over 6 feet, his military 
bearing, his frank, cordial manner, and genuine sympathy. 
In conversation they find him well versed upon all topics, 
national and international, able to speak fluently in several 
languages, and generally willing to express his opinion, man 
to man, without giving the impression of taking an unfair 
advantage of his official position. Of national subjects, 
the one nearest the King's heart is that of Denmark's defence ; 
as a soldier he is personally interested in the army ; as a King, 
pledged to preserve neutrality. In international matters he 
is most active in strengthening cordial relations with the sister 
nations, Sweden and Norway, his mother being a Princess 
of the former, his brother King of the latter. 

Since 1849, when the nation secured a democratic constitu- 
tion, the Danish kings have created no new entailed estates. 

They continue, however, to reward merit by 
C Nobility d conferring orders and decorations. The high- 
est decoration is the " Order of the Elephant." 
Of the " Order of the Dannebrog " there are various degrees, 
as Knight and Commander. The old Danish nobility is now 
a closed caste ; the families intermarry, and counts and 
barons strive to preserve the integrity of their inherited 
rights in the face of socialistic legislation. The nobles are 
chiefly concerned with farming. They are persuaded by 
their wives and daughters to move into the city of Copen- 
hagen, where several of them have modest palaces, for six 
weeks of the year, during the social season between Christmas 
and Lent. At court functions, nobility, officials, and invited 
guests are carefully divided, according to ancient ceremonial, 



A Democratic Monarchy 25 



into rank classes. In the first class come their Excellencies 
the Cabinet Ministers and the Ministers of the foreign powers, 
as well as members of the noble family of Danneskiold, who 
are descended from one of the Danish kings, and have the 
good fortune to be Excellencies by birth. 

Although Denmark is thoroughly democratic, she has been 
slow, compared with some other countries, in obtaining 
parliamentary rights. From 1660 to 1849 

Constitution. *-he King's power was absolute. Not until 
1849 did the Danes obtain a constitution, 
which was amended again in 1866. By the articles of the 
Constitution, the legislative powers are vested in King and 
Parliament. The latter embraces two houses, the Landsting 
and the Folketing. The executive power rests with the King 
and his Ministers. The latter are responsible to the people 
for the acts of the government, while the King is not held 
accountable, his person being " sacred and inviolable." The 
judiciary consists of judges appointed by the government. 
At present the Cabinet comprises nine Ministers, one each for 
the departments of Finance, Traffic, Commerce, Justice, 
Church and School, the Interior, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs 
and National Defence. 

The members of the lower house of the Rigsdag or Parlia- 
ment — the Folketing — are elected every three years by direct 
vote of the people in the various electoral 
Folketing. districts, originally one member for every 
16,000 of the population. Only two-thirds of 
the men in Denmark have the franchise. The polls are open 
to men of 30 years and upwards who have never been con- 
victed of crime, received poor help that they have not refunded, 
or are not incapacitated by insanity or bankruptcy from 
directing their own affairs, or who are not servants living in 
the house they serve. Although the voter must be 30 years 
of age, the candidate for whom he votes need be but 25, 
the principle being that the judgment of the average man, 
the voter, develops late, whereas an exceptional man may 



26 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 

arise with sufficient ability to manage affairs of state at 
the age of 25. In 1912 the Folketing numbered 1 14 members. 

The Landsting, the upper house, consists of sixty-six mem- 
bers, of whom twelve are appointed for life by the King. The 
remainder are chosen by a complex system, 

Landsting. so t* 13 * one are e l ec * e( i by electors who 
represent voters taxed for more than 4,000 
kroner, or are possessors of greater estates. In 1914 a pro- 
posed new constitution was before the people, providing for 
a reduction in the age of voters to 25 years, the polls to be 
open to women on the same terms as men, and to servants, 
hitherto debarred from any share of the government. It may 
be remarked that these regulations were already in force in 
communal elections in 1908. 

The Constitution of 1849 did not bring with it the system 
of Ministerial government long familiar in England. The 
The Conservative Ministry still continued in 
Parliamentary power long after the Liberals secured major- 
Struggle. j£j es j n ^j ie L ower House. For a period 

of years, from 1885 until the beginning of 1893, the 
Estrup Ministry, unable to obtain appropriations from 
Parliament, dissolved the Rigsdag each year, and drew up 
a " provisional " budget. At last the Conservatives grew 
weary of the struggle. They realised that the great farming 
population behind the Liberal Party had been adequately 
trained by education and co-operation in agriculture to 
govern themselves. In 1901 the King called upon Professor 
Deuntzer to form a Liberal cabinet. This Ministry was 
followed by a second Liberal government in 1905, with J. C. 
Christensen, a popular leader of the farmers, as Prime Minister. 
This gave way in 1908 to a third Liberal coalition under 
N. Neergaard, 1908-9, which split upon the question of national 
defence. In the effort to compromise upon this debated 
issue, the aged statesman, Count Holstein, was summoned 
from his castle of Ledreborg. He quickly formed a fusion 
ministry, succeeded in passing a law, and retired to his estates. 



A Democratic Monarchy 27 



In the political confusion which followed, a third party, the 
Radicals, came for a few weeks into power, with Theodor 
Zahle as Premier. His Cabinet was quickly succeeded by 
another Liberal Ministry under Berntsen from 1910 to 1913, 
when the Radicals again took over the reins of government, 
supported by the Social Democrats and one wing of the 
Liberals. Socialists point with especial pride to the circum- 
stance that Zahle, the Prime Minister, is a shoemaker's son, 
and his wife a stenographer in the Rigsdag. 

In 1912 the Folketing was constituted as follows : 13 
Conservatives, 57 Liberals, 20 Radicals, and 24 Social Demo- 
Alignment of crats. The Conservative Party stands for 
Political constitutional stability. Its rank and file 
Parties. consists of the large landed proprietors, the 
nobility, the officers of the army and navy, captains of 
industry, and those who believe in increased measures for the 
national defence. The Liberal Party is the agricultural 
party. With considerable justice, the farmers regard them- 
selves as the proper arbiters of the nation's destinies. To 
them the export of butter, bacon, and eggs is of more impor- 
tance than " militarism." While this farmer's party was at 
one time all-powerful, it seems to have passed the zenith of 
its strength. In the Radical Party are found the protestors, 
the followers of Brandes, the critic, the readers of the news- 
paper Politiken, many authors, artists, college professors, 
professional men, in short, the confirmed idealists in a land 
where idealism usually leads to practical results. The party 
of growing strength are the Socialists, who comprise the 
majority of the industrial workers. They advocate the usual 
doctrines held by Socialists elsewhere, but, although never 
represented in the Cabinet, are quite ready to co-operate 
with the parties in power in programmes of social betterment. 

For her financial surplus Denmark relies chiefly upon her 
export of butter to England. In general, free trade is main- 
tained, minor taxes upon articles of luxury being in no 
sense protective of home industries. Internal taxes upon 



28 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



income and property are progressive, falling more heavily 
upon the rich than on the poor. For example, incomes 

under 800 kroner are not taxed ; incomes 
Finances. under 1,000 are taxed only 1-4 per cent. 

annually ; but the tax on an income of 100,000 
kroner is 5 per cent. According to the inheritance tax law of 
1908, a non-relative of the deceased who inherits a property of 
100,000 kroner must pay the handsome sum of 12,000 kroner. 
The Socialists, however, have resolutely opposed increasing 
the taxes upon beer and gin, on the ground that the poor man 
should not be robbed of his drink. In 1912 the national 
debt was 350,000,000 kroner. The total expense of main- 
taining the army and navy is about 27,000,000 kroner, the 
highest figure on the list, but practically equalled by the 
expenditure for schools. Poverty and old age pensions 
demand 22,000,000 kroner, hospitals and public health 
13,000,000, while 6,000,000 each axe expended for the state 
church and the public highways. 

The execution of the laws and the administration of city 
and country is carried out by two groups of officials, the 

statsembedsmaend, or trained government 
Routine salaried officials, and the kommunale mad, 

or town and parish councils, elected to 
honorary office by the voters. State officials usually begin 
their careers by graduating from the University with the 
jurist's degree. Thence they advance gradually by age and 
merit in the departments of their choosing. 

For internal affairs the land is divided into eighteen 
counties, each called an amt, and administered by a governor 

or amtmand appointed by the King. Under 
County h j m are some bailiffs and other officials, 
Government. , . , , 

who act m various local capacities, some as 

rural judges, some as mayors of small towns. 

In Copenhagen the chief magistracy is vested in a Lord 
Mayor/ called the Over president, appointed for life by the 
King, four salaried mayors or borgtnestere, chosen for life 



A Democratic Monarchy 29 



by the city council, with the King's approval, and four 

unsalaried aldermen or raadrnaend, also appointed by that 

body, but representing popular vote. The 

Municipal p re sent Lord Mayor of Copenhagen is Henrik 
Government. £ . v J r & _ # 

de Jonquieres, a descendant of the Danish 

branch of an old Huguenot family, who was promoted to this 
position, after having been successively governor over several 
amis. Borgmestere and raadmen work together in pairs, super- 
intending the four departments of municipal government. The 
town council consists of fifty-five members, elected by the 
tax-payers over 25 years of age. Since 1908 women have 
voted on the same terms as men. Several of the councillors 
are women. In the same manner are elected the select men 
of province towns and rural districts. 

The courts are under the Department of Justice. There 
are a supreme court, two " land courts " — one for the Islands 
and one for Jutland — and various secondary 
Courts courts, besides special courts such as the 
one created to arbitrate between labour 

and capital. 

The state church and the public schools are both under 
the direction of the Ministry for Culture. The established 

church is the Evangelical Lutheran, of which 
Church ^ e King must be a member. Religious 

freedom, notwithstanding, prevails, and a 
Dane can be born, married, and buried by civil contract 
without the offices of a clergyman. Outside of the Lutheran 
persuasion, there were in 1901 only 33,029 non-communicants, 
of whom 5,501 were Baptists, 5,373 Roman Catholics, 3,476 
Jews, and 717 Mormons. Within the established church are 
three factions, the high church party, who strive for dignity 
and ritual, the Grundtvigians, who assert an easy, practical, 
joyous, and patriotic worship, and the Inner Mission, who 
correspond to a methodist or pietistic movement. There is 
no archbishop, the Bishop of Sjaelland being the senior 
ecclesiastic. The country is divided into seven dioceses, 



30 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



each with its bishop and cathedral church. Bishop and 
pastor alike are appointed by the King. In recent years the 
tendency has been to increase the number of parishes, of 
which there are now 1,800. English visitors are wont to 
remark upon a seeming religious apathy, but they are in fact 
deceived by the informal way in which the Danes take their 
church going, like their attendance at the theatre, not as a 
duty, but a privilege. Worshippers come and go while the 
service is in progress. Many of those who are affiliated with 
the Radical and Socialist Parties may impress the foreigner 
as scoffers, but the rank and file of all classes are seriously 
minded and inwardly reverent, though not given to religious 
forms and ceremonies. 

As bitter as the loss of Alsace to the French in 1870 was 
the loss of Southern Jutland or Slesvig to the Danes in 1864. 

Both provinces have had the German lan- 
Slesvig. guage foisted upon them. Although an 
alien speech is taught in the schools, no 
despotic government can prevent the use of the native tongue 
in the seclusion of the home. In 1912 there v/ere no more 
earnest Danish patriots than the 17,000 Danish speaking 
voters in Slesvig. It was in that year that the local authorities 
of the town of Flensborg prevented Roald Amundsen, dis- 
coverer of the South Pole, from lecturing in Norwegian, 
" because it resembled the Danish language/ 9 

Of her colonial possessions Denmark still retains the 
Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, and the Danish West 
Indies. The Faroes are a political unit of the nation and 
send representatives to the Rigsdag. Greenland is admin- 
istered by two inspectors, and St. Thomas and other possessions 
in the West Indies by a governor appointed and sent out by 
the King. 

Iceland has a parliament of her own, the Althing, and the 
chief magistrate is an accredited minister of the Danish 
government who resides on the island. Iceland, like 
Ireland, in memory of her past independence, when from 



A Democratic Monarchy 



31 



the tenth to the fourteenth centuries the island was a republic 
governed by a Judiciary, is ever moving in the direction of self- 
government. Icelandic women have long 
Iceland. shared in public affairs. The Danish State is 
zealous to do its utmost for the economic and 
intellectual welfare of this bleak Northern isle. Icelandic 
students enjoy special privileges and stipends at the University 
of Copenhagen. During the last few decades a worthy native 
literature has blossomed forth, which still preserves in its 
ancient linguistic forms a memory of the glorious days of the 
sagas and eddas when Iceland was the Athens of the 
Scandinavian world. 

An interesting commentary on the war of 1914 was the 
visit of a steamship from Iceland to the harbour of New York. 
The Althing, fearing that Iceland would be cut off from her 
grain supply from Denmark, chartered a ship, and sent it 
laden with herrings, to be sold, and the money used for the 
purchase of wheat. Thus the war had opened a new trade 
route. It was claimed that this was the first vessel to sail 
direct from Iceland to an American harbour, since the days 
of the early Norse voyages to America. 



CHAPTER III 



RECLAMATION AND CO-OPERATION 

Since the disaster of the Prussian War in 1864, Denmark 
has undergone a material regeneration that has made this 

little nation per capita one of the richest 
P Inte°ll t igence nd countries in Europe. This has been brought 

about primarily through agriculture, Fertility 
of the soil was not one of Nature's gifts ; nothing daunted, 
the people have worked their way to the front as farmers by 
determined and well-directed effort. The cultivation of the 
soil has taken two directions. On the one hand, through 
reclamation, tracts of desolate land have been won back by 
men inspired with persistent patriotism without hope of 
personal gain. On the other hand, intensive scientific 
methods and the principles of co-operation, applied to dairying, 
have made the Danish farmer prosperous and contented. 

Reclamation in Denmark has its hero, just as conservation 
in America has its Gifford Pinchot. The Danish Pinchot 

was a veteran of the War of '64, Colonel 
Red Sh g Enrico Dalgas. By the time that the 

combined forces of Prussia and Austria had 
wrested from Denmark the rich duchies of Holsten and 
Slesvig, a feeling of intense discouragement spread over the 
nation, and the soldiers returned home from the battlefields 
listless and hopeless. 

It was Colonel Dalgas who pointed out the way of salvation. 
At the end of the war he was a man of thirty-six years. 

Previously he had been in charge of the 
Dalgas. construction of public highways across the 

moors of Jutland, and being a geologist and 
a botanist he made the most of his opportunities to study the 
nature of the heath. When alone in the wilderness, he 

32 



Reclamation and Co-operation 33 



dreamed of its possibilities. By experiments he was con- 
vinced that he could make trees grow in the heath, and turn 
it into plough and pasture land. And in putting these vast 
tracts of waste land under cultivation he saw hope for the 
nation. " What we have lost without," he reiterated, " can 
be won within." 

It was easier for Dalgas to convince himself of his plans for 
reclamation than to persuade the farmers to plant the heath. 

The Dane had become inured to the adage, 
Desolation. " Nothing but heather can grow on the 
heath." Those who dwelt near the heather 
lived as their grandfathers before them, in poverty, on the 
borders of the solitary moorland that stretched black and 
dismal into the distance. They had, indeed, witnessed 
attempts to cultivate the wilderness ; they had seen rows 
of trees planted on the heath, only to yellow and die. Here 
and there, it is true, along the sandy roads across the moor, 
a hunter might chance upon a tiny cottage, and roundabout, 
perhaps, a meagre potato patch, or a few lean sheep. The 
owner of such a hut eked out an existence by knitting stockings 
while herding his sheep. Or else he tramped the heath with 
a gun in search of hare and grouse, and, when these slender 
means failed to keep hunger from the door, turned highway- 
man, making the moor a dangerous country for a traveller 
at night. And worse than its own uselessness the existence 
of the heath proved a menace to the farms on its border, on 
account of the continual west winds from the North Sea, 
which gathered force as they swept over the open expanses 
of moorland, and, reaching the farms, blighted and withered 
everything they touched. So scarce was money in certain 
districts that this means of exchange was used for only four 
purposes : for the taxes, for salt, for fuel, and for wooden 
shoes, which were bought only when no wood was available 
at home from which to make their own. 

Jutland had not always been so barren. Mounds existing 
from the Stone Age, in the midst of the heath, showed where 



34 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



a former population had subsisted, apparently on agriculture, 
and given a proper burial to their dead. And, too, occasional 

clumps of scrub oak proved that portions of 
Neglect. Jutland, only a few centuries ago, had been 

clothed with trees. War, axe and fire, and, 
above all, neglect, had stripped the land of forest and allowed 
the soil to grow sour, while heather grew over the rotting 
stumps, and the land degenerated into either a dry heath 
or a stagnant bog, by the same process exactly as that which 
is going on to-day in the deforested virgin timber-lands of 
North America. 

In 1866, a few friends of Dalgas caught his enthusiasm and 
formed with him " The Danish Heath Society/' having for 

its sole aim " to render the Danish moor 
Hlath Society, productive." The founders of this Society 

were actuated entirely by patriotic motives, 
and the members have never asked for a dividend. From 
its foundation until the present time this organisation has 
been one of the most active institutions in the country. 

Dalgas and The Heath Society proceeded first to win the 
confidence of the farmers by digging canals and irrigating 
the country for them, and showing immediate benefits thus 
derived. At the same time, they established nurseries and 
experiment stations, and demonstrated that the red spruce 
actually could be made to grow in place of the heather. 
To be sure, there was a temporary setback when it was found 
that the spruce grew only to a certain height and then stopped, 
stunted. But, luckily, Dalgas discovered, to the surprise of 
everybody, that by planting mountain fir in proximity to 
the spruce the latter were somehow stimulated into growth. 
Later, the fir, which was called " the spruce's nurse," could 
be cut down, leaving the spruce to rise from a rich forest 
floor. 

The method pursued in reclaiming the heath is briefly 
this : First the heather is burned away. Then the land is 
ploughed and re-ploughed, sometimes for three years in 



Reclamation and Co-operation 35 



succession. When the soil is rich enough, or the owner 
desires quicker returns than those obtainable from planting 
trees, the ground is sown with seed, which 
C0 ^lderness the °^ en yi^s abundant crops. Swamps and 
bogs, on the other hand, may be turned into 
rich pasture lands. In the work of reclaiming Jutland from 
desolation the labour of convicts is sometimes requisitioned. 
To dig through the ahl, a thick crust spread over a portion of the 
heath that has never once been broken since the ice receded 
from Jutland in the glacial period, is verily a form of " hard 
labour." Through the apertures in the ahl made by pick 
and shovel the convicts insert young trees. They seem to 
enjoy this work in the open, and at the same time they cannot 
help imbibing some feeling of the spirit of patriotism 
which envelops the whole movement of conservation and 
reclamation. 

Among its numerous activities the Heath Society publishes 
a journal and gratuitously distributes tracts of information, 
besides maintaining more than five hundred demonstration 
stations, which offer free instruction in planting trees, crops, 
or grass. The Society also shows the farmer the desirability 
of planting hedges about his ploughed fields to protect the 
growing crops against the wind. For these hedges alone the 
Society disburses annually about twenty million plants. It 
also distributes one hundred million pounds of marl from 
various quarries to be used as fertilizer. 

In carrying out his propaganda for reclamation, Dalgas 
addressed mass meetings of farmers and folk high schools. 

" Jutland is like a shorn lamb," he used to 

'Becomes 1 Sa ^' P ass * n § ^ s ^ an( i over the school map, 
"Woolly." "but the land shall become woolly." And 
the hitherto sceptical farmers, amused by 
the comparison, went away laughing and half convinced, 
repeating one to the other, " The land shall become woolly." 

Surprisingly has this prophecy been realised. In 1860, 
where there were only 157,000 acres of forests in Jutland, 



36 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



in 1907 there were 476,000 acres, and the percentage of land 
covered by trees had been raised from 2-4 to 7-2. Further- 
more, the total unproductive area of Jutland was reduced 
from 2,860 to 1,428 square miles, showing that in the first 
forty years of the existence of the Heath Society more than 
one-half the barren soil of the peninsula was placed under 
cultivation. 

At first the planting of forests by private individuals was 
looked upon as nothing more than a patriotic venture, a 

form of national insurance. Already, how- 
Returns ever, some of the older plantations have been 

cut, and actually yielded a profit on the 
investment. Take the example of one grove, planted under 
rather unfavourable circumstances, as recorded by the 
Heath Society. In 1877, the heath was burned over and 
ploughed at considerable initial expense. In 1878, young 
plants were purchased and set into the furrows, red spruce 
and mountain fir alternating. In 1890, sods were removed 
from around the spruces. In 1896, the firs which had 
crowded the spruces were cut down. In 1900, the branches 
of the firs were cut and sold for fuel, the sale meeting the 
cost of the cutting. In 1904, there was a second cutting of 
all the fir trunks that impeded the spruces, which were large 
enough for fence pales. Three years later there was a similar 
cutting. The sales of these two cuttings of fir paid for all 
the expense of the plantation to date, and there remained 
for the owner a handsome young forest of spruce. 

The offices of the Danish Heath Society are now located 
in a handsome new building in the old cathedral town of 

Viborg, in the midst of the district which 
Viborg. the Society has reclaimed. With its awakened 

prosperity, new banks and public buildings, 
the ancient city feels again the importance it enjoyed before 
the devastation of farms and forests a thousand years ago. 
From the restored cathedral towers, south, to Herning, 
where formerly one saw only the cheerless heath, there 



Reclamation and Co-operation 37 



stretches now a landscape smiling with farms, woods, and 
villages traversed by a railroad, opened in 1906. Every 
summer the Society conducts a two-day sight-seeing " tour " 
of the heath for its members, who gather from all parts of 
Denmark. In a long caravan of four-wheeled carriages, the 
party proceeds from farm to farm to study what has been 
accomplished by the planting of trees or grass, or the laying 
out of artificial ponds. A favourite Mecca for members of 
the Society is the plantation of Mr. Christian Dalgas, son of 
the late Colonel, who, as a forester, has conscientiously devoted 
his life to the cause of reclamation. This annual pilgrimage 
concludes with a banquet at Herning, perhaps, or at Viborg, 
where a feeling of patriotism and profound thankfulness 
spreads over the gathering. 

From some classes, particularly poets and artists, there 
has been a half serious protest against the spoliation of the 

melancholy beauties of the heath. Near 
American n park. Aalborg, north in Jutland, the heather still 

reigns supreme over Rebbild Banks, a hilly 
country that, in blossoming time, reminds one of the purpling 
glens of Perthshire. Over the most beautiful hillside of all, 
backed against a dark primaeval forest, two flags wave side 
by side, Danish and American. They mark the site of the 
Danish-American National Park, a plot staked off from 
primitive nature, saved from agricultural desecration, and 
consecrated to perpetual virginity by the popular sub- 
scription of Danish emigrants in the United States, whom 
the spirit of romance moved to preserve, in the old 
Fatherland, a memorial of the poetry and the poverty of 
their youth. 

As remarkable, perhaps, as the success achieved by Colonel 
Dalgas in reclaiming the heath, is the recuperation of Danish 
agriculture by scientific dairying and co- 
Co-operation, operative societies, which has resulted in 
making a country that is one-tenth the 
size of California the largest exporter of butter among all 



38 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



nations. The following statistics show the steady increase 
in the export of butter, most of which goes to England — 
Value of Butter Exported 

Kroner. 

Average for years 1879-82 . . 24,480,000 
Co-operative dairies were established 
in 1882 

Average for 1887-90 . . . 58,090,000 
„ 1895-98 . . . 115,680,000 
„ 1906-08 . . . 171,300,000 

Pounds of Butter Exported 
Average for 1865-69 . . . 9,850,000 
„ 1885-89 . . . 50,650,000 
„ 1895-99 . . . 132,000,000 
in 1900 .... 156,000,000 
in 1911 .... 197,634,000 

Until the middle of the last century the raising of grain 
was the chief resource of Danish farmers. The land, however, 
was worn out ; with their meagre products 
Butter. the Danes felt the competition of the great 
wheat-growing countries like Russia and 
America, and agriculture in general was at a very low ebb. 
About this time, however, it was discovered that there was a 
market in England for Danish butter. To supply this demand, 
corn-fields were converted into pastures, cows multiplied, 
and large creameries were built. At first it was the large 
landowners who profited most by butter-making, for, manufac- 
turing butter in quantity from their own cream and that 
which they bought from neighbouring small farms, they were 
able to control the export. This monopoly would never 
have given Denmark her supremacy in the butter trade, 
unless her farmers had developed their co-operative system. 

The first co-operative creamery in Denmark was established 
at Olgod, in the west of Jutland, in 1882. The members 
raised the building funds by a loan, each 
Depots. farmer becoming part owner in proportion 
to the number of his cows. The co-operative 
society employed an expert to run the creamery, who, in 



Reclamation and Co-operation 39 



addition to his salary, received a commission on profits. 
Although at first many farmers looked with disfavour upon 
what seemed to them a visionary scheme, and declined to 
join the venture, the idea, when once demonstrated, spread 
like wildfire. Co-operative milk societies were organised in 
all parts of Denmark. In 1908 there were 1,100 co-operative 
dairies, handling practically all the milk in the country, 
with a membership of 160,000 farmers, who contributed, 
according to printed reports, five and one-half billion quarts 
of milk. 

The Danish co-operative societies do everything in their 
power to encourage individual effort. The members receive 
each his share of the profits, based, not upon 
Quality? amoun ^ °f milk which he contributes, 

but upon the exact weight, scientifically 
tested, of the butter-producing fat which it contains. The 
milk from each farm is brought to the central depot, where 
the cream is separated and churned into butter. The skimmed 
milk is returned to the members. The co-operative 
butter has a delicate flavour, and from the fact that it is the 
average product combined from the milk of many cows it 
maintains a uniformity of quality which appeals to the 
English market ; 1886 was the last year that France sent 
more butter to England than did Denmark. Per capita, every 
resident of Denmark is exporting 801b. of butter a year. 
So great is the demand for Danish butter in England that 
Denmark, for home consumption, uses margarine in large 
quantities, and imports cooking butter from America. When 
tinned, the Danish article retains its fine quality even on long 
voyages across the Tropics. For this reason, orders come 
from very distant marts. Danish co-operative experts have 
gone far afield into foreign countries, Siberia in particular, 
where they have planted creameries and organised the farmers 
of large communities into co-operative societies. A quantity 
of Russian and Siberian butter is exported through Denmark. 
To Denmark every year come foreign commissions, composed 

4— (2384) 



40 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



of agricultural experts, to study Danish methods of co- 
operation, especially from England, Ireland, and the United 
States. In 1910, Mr. H. Rider Haggard, the English novelist 
and agriculturalist, made a tour of inspection of Danish 
farming methods, which was followed by the publication of 
his work, Rural Denmark and Its Lessons. Agriculturalists 
the world over are watching this little land of promise as she 
forges her way to the front. 

Scientific education has contributed scarcely less than 
co-operative organisation to the success of Danish dairying. 

The Danish farmer must know to a nicety 
Advice. 3 US * w hat foods for cattle will increase the 

butter constituent of his milk. He tethers 
his cows in straight rows across the pasture, so that not a 
blade of grass will be left trampled down. He reads carefully 
the experiments recorded in the farm journals, and seeks 
the advice of the Government expert, which the State is 
always ready to send to him. The State itself conducts 
experiments in improved methods at the Royal Agricultural 
Institute. According to the official Danish statistics of 1904, 
Denmark had more domestic animals per square kilometre 
of her soil than any other nation on the face of the globe. 
The figures for Denmark were 99, Belgium second with 92, 
and Great Britain and Ireland fourth with 74 per square 
kilometre. It has been said that, in the eyes of the Liberal 
administration, all Denmark is, like Gaul, divided into three 
parts : butter, bacon and eggs. 

By selling butter direct to English companies, the Danish 
societies dispense with the middleman. In England, Danish 

co-operative butter has a registered trade- 
Export, mark. An important part of the butter 

production is bought by the English Co- 
operative Wholesale Society, which has its own agents in 
Denmark for that purpose. Under normal conditions, three 
million pounds of butter must be sent to England every week. 
During the War of 1914, the port of export was removed from 



Reclamation and Co-operation 41 



Esbjerg, on the West, to Aarhus, on the East coast of Jutland, 
and the length of the journey to London extended from a 
day and a half to three and sometimes five days, to avoid 
mines in the North Sea. 

There are many other kinds of co-operative societies ; in 
fact, the principle has been applied to every form of agri- 
culture. There are cow-testing associations, 

As°s^ciat^ons. an *^ ea P ut * nto °pe ra ti° n in 1895, which, up 
to the year 1909, led to the formation of 
530 associations. It is the function of these organisations to 
test scientifically the butter-producing ability of the indi- 
vidual cow, and to prescribe feed and treatment. In 1908 
the average butter production of the Danish cow was 224 lb., 
being actually twice the average maintained in 1884 ! 

No opportunity does the Danish farmer neglect. In the 
course of time it was discovered that the skimmed milk 
returned from the butter factories to the 
Societies farms could be fed to pigs, and made to 
produce a quality of bacon that could 
command in the English market 2d. more a pound than 
French or English bacon. The first co-operative bacon 
factory was the result of a clubbing scheme in 1885. From 
that time the annual export of bacon and lard rose from 
three million kroner late in the '70's to 120 million kroner in 
1911. 

Eggs followed suit. In 1895 the Danish Co-operative Egg 
Export Society was organised. It is made up of a large 
number of local associations, each of them 
E ^>cfety? rt representing at least ten members, which 
collect and forward the eggs to various 
centres. The eggs are all stamped with the producer's 
number, and members of the societies are fined as heavily as 
five kroner for a single bad egg. Because of this guarantee, 
Danish eggs bring fancy prices in England. In 1911 the 
Danish farmer realised thirty million kroner by exporting 
eggs alone. 



42 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



The farmers now do most of their buying through special 
co-operative societies. Seeds, fertilizers, and machinery, not 
Wh 1 ale t0 men ** on co ^ ee an( i articles of household 
Buying. 6 need, are acquired at reasonable prices 
by this means. The purchasing conducted 
through a central agency amounted in 1908 to 66 million 
kroner. Danish farmers have their own manufactures for 
several products, such as rope, margarine, tobacco, chocolate, 
ready-made clothes, all belonging to the central union of 
co-operative societies. 

Cheese is a recent bi-product of the co-operative move- 
ment. The largest creamery in Denmark, " Trifolium, ,, in 
the village of Haslev, which handles the 
Cheese. milk of ninety farms, produces forty varieties 
of cheese, of which 1,500,000 lb. are stored 

at one time. 

The agricultural advance of Denmark has been facilitated 
by the gradual disintegration of great land holdings, and by 
social legislation tending toward the parcelling 

Land^en'ures. out °* t ^ ie ^ an( ^ * nto ^ e hands of the many. 

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 
the position of the peasants was very poor, although probably 
better than in most other countries at that time. Several 
laws in the eighteenth century improved the conditions 
considerably. Until 1788 there was a rule forbidding 
peasants from their twentieth to their fortieth year to leave 
the place of their birth. This law had been promulgated for 
military purposes, but gave the proprietor of the estate a 
great power over the peasants, because the conscription was 
entrusted to him. In 1788 this last vestige of serfdom was 
abolished by law, and another law opened the possibility 
for the peasants themselves to become proprietors of the 
soil. Finally, in the middle of the last century, owners of 
entailed estates were allowed by law, and even encouraged, 
to sell the entailed lands to the tenants. Public-spirited 
financiers formed loan associations, which enabled yeomen 



Reclamation and Co-operation 43 



to borrow upon easy terms. The latter were eager to 
take advantage of the opportunity, and bought land from 
the impoverished nobility. It was demonstrated that when 
a man tilled his own soil it yielded twice as much as when he 
worked it for another. So it proved in the end more profitable 
to the large landowner to sell outright to the tenant than 
to cultivate by the use of hired labour, and he became almost 
as eager to sell as the tenant to buy. From 1835 to 1905, 
the number of farm holdings increased from 157,321 to 
289,130. 

To hasten the distribution of ownership, the Government, 
in 1899, enacted a Law for State Housemen, since then several 

times amended and extended, which provides 
"Housemen." that the humblest ' ' hired-man/ ' if he has a 

few savings, and can give evidence of being 
able to take care of his own property, may buy a small farm, 
of which the total value of land, buildings, and stock shall 
not exceed 8,000 kroner, by borrowing nine-tenths of the 
amount from the State. Within ten years of the passing of 
the law, 5,000 of these diminutive estates were created, with 
an average area of 1\ acres. Their owners are called " State's 
Housemen." By joining co-operative societies, the small 
holder or " houseman" who has only a few hens is able to 
sell every egg at good value in England, and though he be too 
poor to own a cow, except in partnership with his neighbour 
down the road, he can sell every pint of milk without 
contributing to the profits of a middleman. 

There are still some eighty large entailed estates in Denmark, 
inherited by primogeniture. Gentleman farmers, to keep 

abreast of the times, must turn their hunting 
farmers 11 P arks int o ploughed fields or pastures, and 

join with their plainer brethren in the various 
co-operative societies. Alarmed at the progress of socialistic 
legislation, the extensive property holders have formed their 
own protective association to take measures for preserving 
their patrimony intact. 



44 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



More and more the large landowners are compelled, 
because of the scarcity of " hands/' to import foreign labour. 

At present, about 10,000 Poles and Austrians 
"°Hands °' spend the season, from March to November, 

working upon Danish farms. One reason 
that the State has taken up the question of enabling the 
worthy poor to become owners of houses themselves is the 
hope that thus many of the youth will remain in the rural 
districts, and turn an unheeding ear to the call of the cities. 

While Denmark has abandoned to other nations the 
raising in quantity of wheat and of corn, she does grow seeds 

for export, especially cauliflower and cabbage, 
Growing an 0CCU P a ti° n which proves increasingly 

profitable. The house of Daehnfeldt, at 
Odense, and other seed-growing companies, maintain branches 
in several European cities, and have established seed stations 
even in the United States. 

In many ways the country in Denmark is brought close to 
the lives of city-dwellers, and notably in the city milk supply 

and the so-called " Colony Gardens/' Judging 
C Supp?y k * rom number of foreign commissions that 

visit Copenhagen each year to study the 
distribution of its milk, that city has the ideal system for 
ensuring the purity of the morning milk bottle. The impor- 
tant step toward protecting the public was taken some years 
ago by Mr. Gunni Busck, in organising the Copenhagen Milk 
Supply Company, which devotes its profits toward insuring 
the cleanliness of all operations of milking, transportation to 
the town, and of bottling and inspection and cooling over- 
night in the spacious, clean-smelling and well-lighted central 
depot in Copenhagen. 

No city dwellers love the country and its life more than 
the Copenhageners, even though they may sometimes scoff 
at the claim of the rural population that it is the salt and 
the salvation of Denmark. From early spring to late autumn, 
they take every possible occasion to go to the woods which 



Reclamation and Co-operation - 45 



lie near the city. On Sunday the roads axe crowded with 

cyclists, and from the railroad stations the populace pours 

forth in a procession of trains, returning at 

City and night laden with flowers and branches. In 
Country. ° . . _ 

the windows of city homes everywhere one 

sees pots and plants and flower-boxes, and reminders of 

nature. 

The institution that above all things brings the country 
home to the city is the Colony Garden. These gardens, 
so-called, are plots of unused land, within or 
Gardens on ^ e ou ^ s ki r ts of the cities, which are 
leased by co-operative societies and divided 
into strips of 20 ft. wide and from 50 to 100 ft. deep, and 
rented for the season at low prices to working people. Here 
the families of city workers — the day's real labour ended — 
come in warm weather in the evenings of the long days to 
delve and plant and harvest on a miniature scale. There 
are always flowers for the table at home and sometimes 
vegetables enough for the winter. A spirit of fun and frolic 
pervades the colony. Each plot is fenced from its neighbour 
and provided with a bungalow, erected by the whole family 
out of old packing-cases and rejected boards. On the tiny 
veranda, in the summer twilight, the mother pours coffee 
and serves sandwiches to her husband and, it may be, to her 
romping, happy children. 

Whether in country or in town, the Dane does not willingly 
relinquish any opportunity to renew his youth from the 
bosom of mother earth. 



CHAPTER IV 



TRADE UNIONS AND SOCIAL INSURANCE 

Entering by train from the country one of the larger cities 
of Denmark — Copenhagen/ Aarhus, Odense — the attention 

of the traveller is first attracted by the 
tae^Citjf " Colony Gardens/' These miniature villages 

laid out in rectangular plots, each with its 
fence and bungalow and garden-plot and flag-pole, from 
which the red-and- white cross of the " Dannebrog " waves 
in the breeze, present the appearance of animated checker 
boards. Here, the traveller feels something distinctly 
Danish. The " Colony Gardens " are, indeed, an open index 
to the life of mutual helpfulness which he meets in the 
streets of manufacturing and trading towns. 

An air of general well-being pervades city life. " People 
are humoured and spoiled here/' said the wife of a Russian 

diplomat to a visitor at Copenhagen ; " every 
Thrift shop-girl, it seems, has a bicycle ; there are 

so many it is impossible at times to cross 
the streets." The marvel is that, where the people seem 
so prosperous and content, so many suicides should be 
reported. In the so-called poor quarters of Copenhagen 
there is none of the untidiness that usually accompanies 
poverty. The streets are clean, the door-steps scrubbed ; 
the men are away at work ; the women are provided with 
fresh aprons, and the children, when not at school, are con- 
spicuous for their neat clothing and the absence of rags and 
tatters. On the other hand, one will find few indications of 
considerable wealth. There are millionaires in Copenhagen, 
but they do not parade their riches. Long after the auto- 
mobile had ceased to be an excessive luxury in other countries, 

46 



Trade Unions and Social Insurance 



47 



privately owned cars in Copenhagen were rare indeed. The 
Society woman, on her round of calls, instead of driving in 
a handsomely appointed motor-car, engages a plebeian taxi- 
cab, if, indeed, she does not choose to walk. Even His 
Majesty walks and mingles with the crowds along the 
streets. 

In a country where the average wage of a servant is 
only six kroner a week, the cost of living is comparatively 
low. In Copenhagen a man can support his 
family on 2\ kroner a day. In 1909, a 
computation was made of the living expenses 
of a number of exceptionally well-to-do working families of 
about five persons ; the average family expenses for one 
year were found to be as follows — 



Cost of 
Living. 



Food 


. 785 kroner 


45 


Spirits and Tobacco . 


. 47 „ 


3 


Clothes and Washing 


. 200 „ 


11 


Lodging . 


. 253 „ 


14 


Light and Heat 


. 83 „ 


5 


Trade Union 


. 41 „ 


2 


Insurance . 


. 71 „ 


4 


Other expenses . 


. 284 „ 


16 



Total 



. 1,764 kroner 



100 per cent. 



The minimum expenses would be nearer half these figures. 
These low prices are mainly due to the low import duties, 
which average 7 to 8 per cent, on manufactured goods and 
are nothing on food-stuffs and raw materials. 

The eight hour law does not obtain in Denmark, where 
the working hours are from 6 or 7 to 6, with a half-hour 
allowed for breakfast, and an hour-and-a- 
half for the mid-day meal ; but work is 
not often burdensome or exhausting. Break- 
fast and supper for the working-man consists of Smorrebrod 
or sandwiches, spread with " guaranteed " margarine, with 
cheese, or liver paste, frequently washed down with a tiny 



48 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



glass of " snaps " (white gin), or a bottle of beer. At dinner 
the family enjoy two courses : one day a meat soup, followed 
by rice — or porridge, served with beer or with milk — or a 
choice vegetable, such as cauliflower. The second day the 
meat from which the soup was made is served, and, thereafter, 
coffee and cakes. Sunday, the good wife insists upon beef. 
Sometimes the employer is expected to treat to a little repast 
upon the successful completion of a job. When, for instance, 
the brick and mortar walls of a house are raised and ready 
for the roof, the masons erect a pole capped with leaves and 
flowers, as a signal that the usual " raising spread " to be 
provided by the owner of the property is now in order. 
The accompanying scale of wages affords an interesting 
comparison of the remuneration in various 
Wages. occupations. The computation is authen- 
ticated by the Bureau of Statistics, and the 
stipend is expressed in terms of kroner — 

AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES IN DENMARK IN 1906 



Kroner. 



Copen- Province Country All 
hagen. Towns. Districts. Denmark. 



A. — Skilled Labour 



Millers 

Bakers 

Cigar Makers 

Masons 

Carpenters 

Joiners 

Cabinet Makers . 
Painters 
Ironworkers — 



28-9 22-7 20-0 25-1 

25- 4 19-0 13-7 17-6 
27-6 20-9 19-1 24-2 
22-6 20-4 15-8 21-5 
36-8 23-6 22-1 25-2 
34-8 22-1 20-2 24-3 

31- 6 22-4 18-3 28-8 

26- 2 19-5 17-6 22-2 

32- 6 22-8 22-4 28-3 



B. — Unskilled Labour 



Machinists 
Printers 



In Sugar Factories 



Smiths . 



Founders 



Breweries 
Shoe Factories 
Embankments 



. 30-6 

. 28-3 

. 27-8 

. 32-8 

. 23 3 

. 196 

. 24-6 

. 211 

. 25 3 



25-2 
242 
23-4 
25-5 
19-4 



18- 6 

19- 7 
26-1 



23-6 
195 
20-2 
23-3 
18-0 
163 
16-4 
18-6 
181 



26-7 
262 
25-4 
29-7 

20- 3 
187 

21- 
20-8 
18-5 



Trade Unions and Social Insurance 49 



AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES IN DENMARK IN 1906— (contd.) 



Kroner. 







Copen- 


JL 1 U U IrfVL/O 


\j\J vv rvvw y 


All 






hagen. 


JL UWrlo . 




7l D4A 1/1/1 iTiWt? 


■R 


— Unskilled Labour — {contd.) 










Bricklaying 


QA. ft 


17-6 

X / \J 


17.2 

X / 'it 


19. 1 

XZf' X 




Cnnr TV/T-i 1 1 o 


9fl. 1 
. AW I 


1 5.5 


14.. 5 
i to 


1 5.ft 




V_>clllcll L VVUlKb 






22-8 


22*8 




D L lCIv X diub 


22*3 


19*4 


17.9 


18-5 




Iron Works . 


' 22- 1 


19*9 


18*2 


20-9 




Gas Works . 


. 28-5 


20*8 


23>3 


26-0 




Stoking 


. 27-2 


20-9 


18*3 


21*9 


c- 


—Women 


. 12-5 


10-3 


117 


11-7 




Cigar Makers 


. 128 


8-7 


14-3 


114 




Weavers 


. 14-8 


12-5 




132 




Cloth Workers . 


. 134 


11.4 


121 


120 




Tricotage . 


. 13-0 


10-4 




121 




Seamstresses 


. 11-3 


9-7 




111 




Shoemakers 


. Il l 


9-9 


10-7 


10-9 




Laundresses 


. 12-5 


9-2 


10-5 


11-4 




Printers 


. 14-0 


8-3 


73 


11-9 



As a rule, the families of working-men are well-housed in 
apartments of several rooms. In Copenhagen, fewer persons 
are confined to one room for their living 
Housing. quarters than in any other city of its size 
or larger in Europe ; only 10 per cent, of 
the apartments are limited to one room, as against 48 per 
cent, in Berlin. Working-men are now to a large extent 
building their own tenement houses on co-operative principles. 
Also there are colonies of small houses, one dwelling for one 
family, on the outskirts of industrial centres. 

The income of the average Copenhagener is so well assured 
by steady wages and the various insurance guarantees that 
he avails himself of opportunities freely offered 
Recreation, him for relaxation. Many an employee in 
shop or office takes pride in his " colony " 
garden, described in the last chapter. On Sunday, for a 
krone or two, it is possible to give his children an outing in 
the forest of Klampenborg, within an hour's tram ride from 



50 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Copenhagen. The family take their sandwiches with them 
and purchase hot coffee on the spot. In summer, the children 
may go to one of the free salt-water baths provided by the 
municipality and bask for hours in the sun. 

Sometimes the entire family resort for an evening to enjoy 
life at half a krone per individual in the celebrated gardens of 

Tivoli, the democratic " joy " park in the 
Tivoli. midst of Copenhagen, with its lakes and 

fountains, bands, pantomime, restaurants, 
and showering confetti. Here, late every evening, a free 
display of fireworks spreads light and delight over thousands 
of upturned faces. Artisan and aristocrat brush one another 
fraternally in Tivoli. A favourite pastime of the late Czar 
of Russia, when on visits to Denmark with his wife, the 
Danish Princess Dagmar, was to walk about Tivoli and 
observe the care-free Copenhageners. 

In the city, Danish working-men show the same aptitude 
for " team work " as in the country. The protection that 

the farmers secure by forming co-operative 
Pi °SocS ^ soc i et i es > the artisan, the mill-hand, and the 
Betterment, labourer win for themselves by combining in 

trade unions and insurance clubs. Denmark 
is a pioneer nation in the fearless experiments made by her 
working-men for their own social betterment. In many 
forms of insurance against illness, accident, loss of employ- 
ment, and in the pensioning of widowhood and of honourable 
old age, this little land is well ahead of her times. The Danish 
way is by spontaneous organising and collective self-help. 
Where Germany protects her industrial workers by com- 
pulsory legislation, in Denmark the working-men, through 
their trade unions, themselves take the initiative, to be 
assisted later in their reforms by the Government. Where, 
in Anglo-Saxon countries, philanthropy is dispensed by 
private individuals of great wealth, in Denmark relief funds 
are raised by small contributions distributed throughout the 
population. 



Trade Unions and Social Insurance 51 



While the legislation which has in large measure brought 
about the well-being of the working-man is unmistakably 

socialistic, it would not be fair to give the 
Socialism. entire credit to the propaganda of the Socialist 

Party. Social Democracy has been the 
handle, but the Radical Party the head of the hammer that 
has driven idealistic legislation through the Rigsdag. The 
work of social welfare, outside of the Government, has 
been accomplished by prganisations growing out of the 
trade unions, and the trade unions and the Social 
Democratic Party are practically one and the same in 
purpose and personnel. The Socialists are as quick to 
act as to expound. In Denmark, it appears, to will 
is to do ; when once the advantage of a measure is 
demonstrated, to bring it into effect is a natural and 
easy sequence. 

Denmark, of all nations, has the most thorough organisation 
of trade unions. In 1910, 51 per cent, of her working-men 
were enrolled as members of trade unions ; 

Trade 

Unions. Germany came second with 32 per cent. ; 

in Great Britain only 20 per cent, were union 
men. Danish trade unionism was first permanently estab- 
lished in the cities early in the '80's, about the same time that 
the co-operative societies were forming in the country districts. 
In 1912 there were 1,624 separate unions, with 139,012 
members. The average annual dues are 14 kroner, which 
give the unions an income of near two million kroner ; their 
endowment funds amount to four millions. Even unskilled 
workmen are organised into what is known asa" Federation 
of Labourers." All the members belong to unions of their 
own trade in their respective communities. The various 
unions in a given town join together on local issues. The 
unions of the same trade throughout the country unite also 
in a central federation, and most of the latter, in turn, belong 
to the Amalgamated Trades Federation, with headquarters 
in Copenhagen. The accompanying summary will show to 



52 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



what an extent the unions are woven into the industrial 
fabric of Denmark — 

TRADE UNIONS UNDER THE AMALGAMATED TRADES 
FEDERATION 





Number of 


Number of 




Unions. 


Members. 


Labourers 


210 


35,405 


Smiths and Mechanicians 


57 


11,972 


Joiners 


80 


6,466 


Cigar Makers 


OA 


D,UUU 


Textile Workers 


30 


4,489 


Printers 


52 


3,742 


Tailors 


65 


3,618 


Painters . 




o.bUU 


Shoemakers . 


A A 

44 


O C7C 

z,o/5 


Women Workers . 


19 


2,700 


Communal Workers 


1 1 




Butchers 


Ob 


Z,oU4 


Wood Workers 


do 


Z, lo 1 


Bakers . 


48 


2,077 


T* -r-» ^ i 

Tramcar Employees 


1 


1,583 


Founders 


43 


1,400 


Machine Tenders . 


40 


l,o7b 


Stokers 


6 


1,200 


Paper Makers 


8 


1,136 


Saddle Makers 


. 39 


1,040 


Electricians . 


9 


942 


Bookbinders 


9 


891 


Carriage Makers . 


. 25 


788 


Coopers 


22 


722 


Potters 


3 


675 


Millers 


23 


550 


Stone Workers 


17 


516 


Glass Blowers 


8 


478 


Other Organisations 


. 161 


5,081 




1,221 


107,067 


TRADE UNIONS OUTSIDE THE AMALGAMATED 


TRADES FEDERATION 






Number of 


Number of 




Unions. 


Mem bers. 


Masons 


87 


5,919 


Railway Employees 


18 


5,639 


Carpenters 


94 


4,369 


Brewers 


. 42 


3,388 


Clerks 


. 51 


2,576 



Trade Unions and Social Insurance 



53 



TRADE UNIONS OUTSIDE THE AMALGAMATED 
TRADES FEDERATION — (contd. ) 





\Tu ma how /IT 
IvMfYlu&Y UJ 


\T 4 y h ow f\f 




U fltOftS. 


7\ /T o4AAr\OWc 

1V1 eYrlOeYS . 


beanien 




z,uuu 


Tinsmiths 


\ 26 


1,070 


Servants and Farm-hands 


. 34 


1,020 


Waiters 


9 


984 


Drug Clerks 


1 


870 


Bricklayers . 


1 


845 


Serving Maids 


6 


726 


Labourers (not above) . 


2 


721 


Warehousemen 


1 


550 


Other Organisations 


24 


1,268 




403 


31,945 


Total in all, 1912 


. 1,624 


139,012 



If a union can threaten a strike, an employer may, at the 
same time, declare a lock-out. Over against the trade unions 

is the organisation of the employers, which, 
Th LfodaS!: S, in 1912 > embraced 8,100 members. The 

headquarters of the Employers' Association 
are in Copenhagen, in a handsome building, where many a 
conference is held between labour and capital. Usually, 
strikes are settled on paper, without ever coming to a shut- 
down. Suppose a bootmakers' union in a provincial town 
should threaten a strike ; the Employers' Association could 
check it by threatening a general lock-out of the leather 
workers in all the country. The warning is usually sufficient, 
but in 1911 there was a lock-out of 14,500 workmen, which 
lasted, however, only two days before a settlement was 
reached. 

The formation, in 1898, of these two central organisations 
representing labour and capital — the Amalgamated Trades 
Federation and the Employers' Association — 

Arbkration waS ^°^ owec ^' * n by a test of strength, 

Court. known as " The Great Lock-out." It lasted 
168 days, and cost the workmen 12,300,000 
kroner in wages. It resulted, finally, in mutual recognition 



54 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



of rights on both sides, and the formulation of a code of laws 
compelling the employees to assume for their own contracts 
the same responsibility that they demanded of their employers. 
To assist in carrying out this compromise, the Government, in 
1910, established a permanent Arbitration Court, with power 
to inflict fines on employers who do not fulfil their agreements 
or upon trade unions that violate their collective bargains. 
This Court consists of an equal representation of the 
employers and the unions. 

At the same time, the Government created an official 
known as the " Conciliator," whose duty it 

The State 

Conciliator. * s to s * e P m a * psychological moment as 

adviser or mediator, without, however, 
exerting any legal compulsion. 

Of the 36,000 workmen, who, at one time or another, in 
the year 1910, were at variance with their employers, about 

half won some advantage. Only 2,000 were 
Lock-outs! 1 obliged to go on strike. On an average, 

53 per cent, of wages lost by strike are paid 
back by the trade unions. In 1912, a comparatively un- 
eventful year, there were 61 strikes and three lock-outs, 
involving 213 employers and 2,078 employees, and 47,450 
days of labour lost. Thirty of the strikes were less than a 
week in duration, and only five of them required the services 
of the State Conciliator. In general, labour and capital are 
evenly paired off. In a country where differences may be 
adjusted so readily, the danger of blood-spilling in industrial 
wars is very remote. 

Nowhere is the well-being of the workman better protected 
than in Denmark. If he falls ill, there is his sickness club 

to make lighter his burden of expense and 
S C C lubs! S to P rovide for his family. On easy terms, 

the workman may belong to one of the 
numerous sickness clubs, which, in 1911, numbered 711,000 
members. These clubs are affiliated with the trade unions 
and jealously fostered by them. While the State does not, 



Trade Unions and Social Insurance 55 



as is the case in Germany, compel the working-man to insure 
against illness, it does assist the sickness clubs that conform 
to certain conditions, by contributing to their treasuries two 
kroner a year for each member, and, in addition, a sum 
amounting to one-fifth the total premiums from members. 
A club gives to a sick member free medical and hospital 
treatment, and a benefit of not more than two-thirds of his 
wages for periods not exceeding thirteen weeks in a year. 
N* Most of the sickness clubs re-insure their risks in a national 
federation. There are also burial associations that number 
370,000 members. 

There was, in 1910, one doctor for every 1,600 of the 
population, as compared with one for every 2,000 in Prussia. 

Town and country are well provided with 
the'sick hospitals and nurses, whose services are 

furnished free by the communities. The 
new National Hospital in Copenhagen is one of the most 
impressive structures in the land. A National Society for 
Combating Tuberculosis originated the Julemaerker, or 
Christmas postage-stamps, which can be bought at the 
post-office for a farthing, and affixed to all kinds of postal 
matter. The proceeds from the sale of the stamps have 
already been sufficient to build and maintain several hospitals 
for consumptive children. This custom has been adopted 
in other countries. 

What is the working-man's family to do if he be not incap- 
acitated, but lose his job through no fault of his own ? That 

difficult problem of insurance against un- 
Unemployment employment has also been solved in Denmark. 

The Danish Government, by co-operating 
with private initiative, effected the first nation-wide insurance 
against loss of work. In 1907, a law was passed providing 
for the formation of voluntary unemployment clubs, modelled 
upon the already existing sickness clubs. When these 
unemployment clubs conform to certain Governmental 
regulations, the municipalities may, at their discretion, 
5— (2384) 



56 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



subsidise the treasuries of the clubs to the amount of one-third 
the membership dues, and the National Government may be 
depended upon to contribute one-half as much again as the 
combined amount raised by the clubs and the communes. 
Among the stipulations of the law, is the provision that the 
club benefits accruing to any individual are not to exceed 
two-thirds of his wages, nor to be given him more than 70 
days in any one year. It is a rule, also, that the clubs are 
not to refuse admission to non-union men ; nor are the 
members to receive aid if they are thrown out of work by 
strike or lock-out, as this is the prerogative of the trade 
unions proper. 

Before the unemployment clubs were tested, it was feared 
by some law-makers that only tramps and idlers would 
apply for membership. But so quickly have 
En Thrift SCS advantages of the plan been recognised 

by the thrifty workman, that within five 
years 55 unemployment clubs were formed, and the member- 
ship in 1912-13 reached 120,289, embracing more than 
two-thirds of all industrial workers. Women also are included 
in these clubs, and more than one-fourth of all the women 
employed in industry have joined them. While the system 
is legally voluntary, as a matter of fact a working-man, in 
most cases, cannot join a trade union without at the same 
time joining the unemployment club affiliated with it. 

In 1912-13, the receipts and expenditures of the 
unemployment clubs were as follows — 

Receipts , Expenditures 



Kroner. Kroner. 

Members' dues . . 1,414,170 j Benefits . . . 1,551,341 

Fines, etc.. . . 6,215 Aid for Travel . . 40,112 

Gifts . . . 2,944 ! Christmas Aid . . 21,171 

Interest on Capital . 72,452 Aid for Moving . . 33,211 

Government Subsidy . 822,536 Other Aid . . . 2,541 

Municipal Subsidy . 374,114 Administration . 240,410 



2,692,431 1,888,786 



Capital, March 31, 1913—2,382,411 kroner. 



Trade Unions and Social Insurance 57 



From the above, it may be surmised that non-employment 
in the Danish Utopia is the exception and not the rule. The 
unemployment clubs do not encourage men 

E Bureaus ent t0 " thr0W U P their j° bs " ; the y sim P l Y hel P 
them when out of work for a reasonable 

length of time, until they can find new employment. To 

facilitate re-appointments, the Rigsdag put into operation, 

on 1st July, 1913, a law authorising the Minister of the 

Interior to organise employment bureaus in the provincial 

towns throughout the country. These are modelled upon 

the highly successful Employment Bureau established in the 

city of Copenhagen in 1901, which, in 1912, filled 32,967 

positions, more than half of them for women. The percentage 

of unemployment of organised labour decreased from 10*7 

per cent, in 1910 to 94 per cent, in 1911, and to 7-5 per cent. 

in 1912. Indeed, the general effect of insuring against 

unemployment has been to quicken the whole world of 

Danish industry. 

Insurance against sickness and unemployment, as we have 

seen, though nation-wide, is voluntary. Against accident, 

however, the workman is insured auto- 
Accidents and ma tically by a Workman's Compensation 
Liability. Act, passed in 1898, by which the employer 

is compelled to reimburse the employee 
injured while in the discharge of his work. While the 
workman is laid off, he is bound to receive from the employer 
approximately three-fifths of his wages. If crippled for life, 
he receives six years' wages. If he dies immediately as a 
result of injuries, his family receives wages for four years. 
The employers usually insure this risk through a mutual 
insurance society. The problem of insurance against injuries 
sustained outside of working hours, or against incurable 
disease, has also been studied for many years by a commission, 
and, but for the War, a law providing for invalid insurance 
would probably have passed Parliament in 1914. Denmark 
is remarkably fortunate in having comparatively few 



58 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



mortalities from accident ; fewer, in proportion to the 
population, than any other country in Europe, and only 
half as many as England. 

The pensioning of old age is in the hands of the Government, 
and all expenses are shared by the national Treasury, together 

with the community in which the applicant 
Pensions resides. Government pensions for the aged 

were authorised by law as early as 1891, 
since when the Danish experiment has been copied in other 
lands. The Danish law is said to have served as a model 
for old age pensions in Great Britain. All citizens, male and 
female, who have attained sixty years of age, are eligible 
for a Government pension, on condition that they are indigent 
through no fault of their own, that they have not been 
recipients of public alms, nor been committed for any crime 
or misdemeanour. Such a pension cannot be construed as 
an extension of alms under the laws that govern the poor. 
It is regarded as a highly honourable reward for deserving, if 
impecunious, old age. Of the men, 21 per cent., and of the 
women, 38 per cent., of all over sixty years of age draw 
pensions. This costs the State and the communes 12,000,000 
kroner a year. 

In Copenhagen alone there are 13,000 persons receiving 
old age pensions. Those who require medical attention, 
to the number of 477, are cared for in the 

Folks • Home ver ^ attractively appointed " Home for the 
Aged/' Here one may see the old folks, of 
whonf 142, at last accounts, were over eighty years of age, 
sitting in comfortable chairs, knitting or reading, or holding 
sweet converse, while looking out upon pleasant gardens. 
On their death-beds, they are treated with respect and 
tenderness by trained nurses, and pass into the Beyond with 
the benediction of this world's esteem. 

Denmark is likewise a paradise for children. Legitimate 
or illegitimate, the little ones are safeguarded by the laws. 
In 1914 there went into effect a law proposed by the Social 



Trade Unions and Social Insurance 59 



Democrats, whereby widows in need receive for the support 
of their children during their school years a substantial 
pension from the State. A Child Labour Law 

A pamd[s e e n S ° f 1913 kee P S the child OUt ° f the factories 
until he has passed school age — fourteen years. 

In addition to all these welfare measures, private philanthropy 
is everywhere in evidence. An " Association for Free School 
Meals/' in the winter of 1910-11, distributed 338,029 servings 
of food free to Danish school children during recess. Denmark 
has also her Fresh Air Societies. In the month of July, 
about 20,000 children are given free transportation out to 
hospitable farms, where they do a little farm work, and 
swim, fish, and play. The " children's trains," with their 
countless happy youngsters peering out of the windows or 
waving flags, are lively sights at the railroad stations. 

In recent years a unique custom has sprung up in Copen- 
hagen, that has, morally at any rate, added a new holiday to 
the calendar — " Children's Help-Day," in 

Help-day 8 the month of Ma y« 0n this da y hundreds Q f 
solicitors, for the most part children and 
young women, are seen and heard in the streets of Copenhagen, 
shaking little tin safes, in which they collect pennies from the 
passers-by for children's aid. Tents and booths are erected 
in squares and market-places, with side-shows and other 
attractions to induce the public to spend money for the 
good cause. Processions pass by and pageants representing 
suffering childhood. At times the streets become so con- 
gested that all ordinary traffic ceases. There is laughter and 
hubbub and, above all, the incessant rattle of coins in the 
tin safes. Children's Help-Day is a spontaneous expression 
of modern Danish communistic life, as natural and emotional 
as a Saint's Day in the Middle Ages. 

The amount expended by the Danish Government in alms 
for the poor is relatively small compared with pensions for 
the aged, Application for help under the poor laws is 
likely to be a last resort, as those who receive it thereby 



60 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



lose the right to vote and other privileges of citizenship. 
In Copenhagen there are three public institutions for the 

poor : the General Hospital, primarily for the 
Alms. a ged (not pensioned) ; Sundholm, an institution 

of compulsory labour for those who can but 
will not work ; and the Johannes Home, which has separate 
departments for the willing workers, for the sick, and for 
children. The story is told of a commissioner from Japan 
who visited these institutions and was so impressed by the 
well-being of the inmates that he asked to be shown " to 
the institution for the truly poor." 

Although philanthropy usually takes the form of many 
small anonymous gifts, there are a certain number of beneficent 

foundations established by large private 
Endowments bequests. The provisions of some of these 

subsidies are extraordinary and interesting. 
There are endowed homes for servants who have faithfully 
fulfilled a given term of years. Another form of endowment, 
aristocratic, perhaps, rather than socialistic, are the so-called 
" Cloisters for Ladies of Noble Birth/ ' They are old castles 
and estates devised for this purpose in centuries past, which 
provide a comfortable living for duly registered unmarried 
daughters of the nobility. 



CHAPTER V 



CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY 

No one who travels north through the peninsula of Jutland 

from the Slesvig border can fail to be impressed with the fact 

that the landscape indeed bears witness to 

Rural ftie claim of the Liberals that Denmark is a 
Denmark. ... . _ - 

country wisely given over to agriculture, and 

that farming is the key to her national well-being, past, 

present, and future. Grassy plains, rows of sleek cattle 

evenly tethered, the spare, tidy, farms of the state holders, 

bustling little butter factories at the cross roads, surrounded 

by carts waiting to carry the skimmed milk back to the pigs, 

acres upon acres of pathetic scrubby spruce that Danish 

patriotism has planted over the face of the moors, all indicate 

a state of bucolic prosperity. Even the towns seem but 

mere centres for shipping butter, bacon, and eggs, for the 

purchase of farm supplies, and for the investment of savings 

in rural banks. 

A surprise, however, awaits the traveller who penetrates 
as far north as the Lime Fjord. The broad and fertile valley 

of the fjord that lops off the northern end of 
Aalborg. Jutland stretches from sea to sea. There, in 

the midst, where the fjord flows narrow like 
a river, a city with its suburbs flanks the stream. And from 
a hundred towering chimneys, higher than the spires of the 
churches, the smoke of the factories of Aalborg goes up to 
the stainless skies. The scene is like a vision into a promised 
land of new industrialism. For there seems nothing dingy, 
smudgy, or oppressive about this Danish Newcastle. The 
beholder who was impressed at the pluck of the Danish people 
manifested in reclaiming the moors is thrilled here likewise 
by the persistence and ingenuity of a people who, without 
coal mines or swift waterways, with apparently none of the 

61 



62 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



usual facilities, have been able to create a manufacturing 
centre out of My Lady of the Lime Fjord, the old cathedral 
town of Aalborg. 

What is the basis of Aalborg's industry ? It is an open 
secret. Examine the chalk cliffs, long white embankments 
receding a stone's throw or more from the 

T IndustTy nt water ' s ed S e - Visit the hea P s of blue or 
yellow clay deposited outside the factories. 

These two ingredients, lime and clay, are the chief component 

parts of Portland Cement, the manufacture of which occupies 

at least six factories at Aalborg. The chalk is quarried in 

the hillside and hurried down to the mill, where it is stirred 

together with the clay, and manipulated in a washmill into 

a slurry or paste. This is pumped into long rotary kilns 

heated to a temperature of 2,500° F., where the paste is rolled 

until the ingredients become chemically combined and emerge 

from the other end of the tube in the form of clinkers the size 

of walnuts. The clinkers again are put into a pulverizer 

equipped with steel pebbles and ground into a powder so fine 

that it is almost impalpable and can be passed through a 

fabric or sieve with 10,000 meshes to the square inch. Packed 

in barrels for foreign export and in canvas bags for home 

consumption, the powdered cement is piled on board the 

vessels that always lie at anchor on the fjord at the doors of 

the factories, waiting to convey the cement to all parts of 

the earth. 

The manufacture of the machinery that is used in the 
cement mills is also a successful Danish industry. It is made 
at Valby near Copenhagen, at the factory 

Kilns 7 of F * L * Smidth and Company. Nor is the 
market for this cement machinery limited to 
Denmark. The Company actually conducts a branch 
factory in the United States, and maintains its offices in many 
cities in Europe. The great rotary kilns made at Valby 
are firing cement in Roumania, Bulgaria, and Turkey, in 
Chile, British India, and Siberia, at Bulawayo in Rhodesia, 



Captains of Industry 



63 



and in the mills of the Chee Hsin Cement Company of 
Tongshan. 

The men who are responsible for the remarkable develop- 
ment of the cement machine industry are two mechanical 

engineers, Mr. Poul Larsen, and Mr. Alexander 
Monopoly F° ss > partners and owners of F. L. Smidth 

and Company, who combine with their astute 
engineering skill the ability to organise business upon a large 
scale. Although the various cement works at Aalborg are 
operated by independent stock companies, each with its 
own manager and special field of operation, most of them 
are virtually controlled from the offices of these gentlemen 
in Copenhagen. There are combinations of capital in Denmark 
as well as co-operative societies and trade unions. 

One of these two captains of industry, Alexander Foss, 
was in 1911, and for several years following, elected president 

of the Industriforening, or " Industrial 
A1 Foss der League/' an association of manufacturers 

and employers. Clear visioned, broad-minded 
and patriotic, Mr. Foss has pointed out that Denmark has a 
future in industry as well as in agriculture. It had become 
axiomatic that the financial resources of the country depended 
upon the farms. Before the annual meeting of Industri- 
foreningen in 1912, Mr. Foss delivered a memorable address 
upon " Denmark as an Industrial Country/' which has been 
accepted as a sort of gospel by Danish manufacturers. It 
may be said that certain of his conclusions have been modified 
in the light of subsequent statistics, but that in the main 
they hold good. 

In his address, Mr. Foss met the argument of the agricultur- 
alists that manufactures must be hopelessly limited in a 
country without such natural advantages 

Det In^Li^rS an as m ^ nera ^ ores > coa ^ or water power. These 
Country. factors, however, as Mr. Foss pointed out, 
are not essential. As for native raw materials 
they are not absolutely necessary. Manufacturing consists 



64 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



largely in the making over of substances far from the places 
which originally produced them. Take the common potato 
bag; it is made of jute, a vegetable stuff grown in India, but 
spun and woven in Scotland — in Dundee, a town that is no 
more favoured by nature than any large Danish seaport. 
Though Denmark has no coal of her own, large supplies can 
be landed cheaply in Danish ports. As to water-power, 
that advantage is often outweighed by the inaccessibility 
of waterfalls, and the distance required for transportation. 
Denmark's opportunity is to work raw materials, and to finish 
half converted products shipped from other countries. 

For manufacturing, Denmark has two factors in her favour : 
the first, is her geographical position and means of communica- 
tion with the rest of the world. The nation 

^dvlntXe al has a coast " line measuring 4,375 miles, full 
of splendid natural harbours, in which docking 
facilities may be provided cheaply, due to the fact that there 
is scarcely any tide. The freight rates from the coal 
regions of Scotland and northern England to Denmark 
are no greater than to London or other ports in the south 
of England. 

Denmark's second great advantage is the skill of her 
engineers. The effects of brains and education have already 
been demonstrated in the virtual industrialisa- 

En^neers t * on °* a g I *i cu l ture i nto the speciality of butter- 
making. A high grade of proficiency likewise 
characterises the graduates of the Institute of Technology 
in Copenhagen who devote themselves to mechanical problems 
and to manufacturing. Danish engineers, at the present 
time, are directing important enterprises in parts as remote 
as Siberia and Siam. As practical men of affairs they exhibit 
an understanding of the market as astute as that shown by 
their American cousins. The quality of goods is in the long 
run more important than the ability to peddle and advertise 
them, and the centre of gravity in Danish industrial progress 
lies with the expert engineer. 



Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

ALEXANDER FOSS 



Captains of Industry 



65 



The increase in the future in the population of Denmark, 
Mr. Foss maintained in his address, cannot be taken care of 
by agriculture alone. Manufactures must 
G Danish° f en large more and more. He computed from 
Industries. the fact that in 1812 only one-fifth as many 
persons were engaged in manufactures as in 
agriculture in 1870 one-half as many, and in 1912 four-fifths, 
that before 1950 manufacturing would be in the lead. In 
defence of claims for industry he presented a set of figures 
showing the phenomenal growth of Danish manufactures 
during a period of only six years — 



DANISH MANUFACTURES 





1905. 


1911. 




Kroner. 


Kroner. 


Staples of Food and Consumption . 


197,100,000 


255,000,000 


Metal Products . . . 


65,400,000 


77,200,000 


Technical — Chemical Products 


35,200,000 


69,200,000 


Textile Products 


49,700,000 


46,800,000 


Stone, Clay, and Glass 


28,000,000 


35,500,000 


Paper and Printing 


22,400,000 


29,200,000 


Wood 


25,000,000 


23,500,000 


Leather . 


16,800,000 


21,500,000 




439,600,000 


557,900,000 



The importance of mechanical skill has been borne out in 
many directions in Danish manufactures. In six years, 

from 1905 to 1911, a single company, " The 
Works Northern Cable and Wire Works," succeeded 

in raising the nation's production of wire and 
cable from an annual value of two and a half million kroner 
to seven and a half million. This increase is accounted for 
largely by the technical acumen of the founder and general 
manager of the company, Mr. H. P. Prior, of Copenhagen, 
who added to his training at home practical experience in an 
electrical shop in the United States. 



66 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



The smokeless ocean ship run by the Diesel oil engine is 
the proud achievement of the Danish shipbuilding house of 

Burmeister and Wain. Only after many years 
A Marine leSS °* care ^ experiments the motor ship was 

made possible by the inventive genius of one 
of the company's engineers, Mr. Ivar Knudsen. The com- 
mercial enterprise of the Danes indeed has been a factor in 
the adoption of his patent abroad. In 1912, when the 
Selandia, the first of these vessels, was built for the Danish 
East Asiatic Company, the managing director of that company, 
Etatsraad Andersen, before sending the ship out to Bankok 
sailed in her up the Thames, and astonished the British 
admiralty. The vessel glided through the water without 
smokestack or noise. One load of oil will carry her to the 
Orient. Although the original cost of building is greater 
than for a steamship, the saving in fuel and operating expenses 
gives this type of ship a decided advantage. The Danish 
oil engine does not yet develop sufficient power for fast mail 
service, but for freighters and vessels not requiring high speed, 
in fact, for nine-tenths of the world's shipping, it is said to 
be highly practical. 

The second oil-burning ship built for the East Asiatic 
Company in 1912 was sent by Mr. Andersen to the Kiel 

Regatta. At Kiel it was purchased without 
the°Germans delay f° r freight service to America by the 

Hamburg-America Line, and the name was 
changed from Fionia to Christian X in honour of the Danish 
monarch. On that occasion the Kaiser sent a telegram of 
felicitations to King Christian that read as follows : "I am 
on board the Fionia, and hasten to send you my congratula- 
tions on the remarkable work of the Danish mechanists. 
This ship begins an entirely new chapter in shipbuilding 
which deserves admiration. The engineers of Denmark 
may justly claim the fame of taking the first practical step on 
the new path, and have become teachers of all." Within a 
year seven of these smokeless ships were sailing the high seas, 



Captains of Industry 



67 



and Burmeister and Wain, unable to fill the orders that poured 
into little Denmark from all over the world, sold their patent 
to companies in many lands. At Copenhagen their works 
provide employment for about 4,000 men. 

A striking example of the quick rise of a modern industry 
is furnished by the manufacture of soya cake as a fodder for 
cattle. A few years ago nothing was known 
T *Bean ya a ^out soya except that it was a kind of table- 
sauce. Suddenly the soya bean imported 
from Manchuria was found valuable as fodder. In 1909 the 
wise heads of the Danish East Asiatic Company established 
on the water front of Copenhagen a factory where the valuable 
oil is extracted from the soya bean, and sent to foreign parts, 
after which the bean itself is compressed and moulded into 
cakes which prove to be a most excellent butter producer, 
when fed to the native cattle. 

Copenhagen resembles Munich in being famous both for 
its beer and for its art. Two Danish brewers, the Jacobsens, 
father and son, have promoted scientific 
Carlsberg. investigation and the fine arts. In 1847 the 
father, Dr. J. C. Jacobsen, made, near Copen- 
hagen, the first brew of the since celebrated Carlsberg beer. 
Before his death he had already donated large sums of money 
and the entire Old Carlsberg Brewery to establish an endow- 
ment known as the " Carlsberg Fund," for the advancement 
of scientific investigation. His son, Dr. Carl Jacobsen, built 
up alongside the old establishment the New Carlsberg 
Breweries, which he, in his turn, bequeathed to form a public 
endowment for a museum of sculpture and art, the New 
Carlsberg Glyptothek. In paying for his glass of the dark 
beer of Old Carlsberg, the Dane is conscious that he is con- 
tributing to the advance of science. When he pays for his 
glass of pale New Carlsberg, he is furthering by so much the 
development of art. The establishment also produces a 
temperance beer for certain progressive elements in the 
community. The very breweries, spacious and savoury, 



68 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



enclosed in a park, present the appearance of temples dedicated 
to art, rather than factories of industry. The amount of 
beer drained from their cool vats in 1906, measured in bottles, 
reached 107,000,000. The residence of the elder Jacobsen, 
at Carlsberg, was in 1914, after his son's death, converted 
into a mansion for a Danish scholar to be elected by the 
Society of Scientists, and their choice fell on Professor Harald 
Hoffding, the philosopher. 

Danish ceramics — porcelain, faience, and pottery — bought 

and sold the world over — exhibit the com- 
Porcelain. mercial success of another industry due to the 

maintaining of an uncompromising standard 
of technical and artistic excellence. 

In addition to technical skill and the natural advantages 
of good harbours, there is another factor which offsets the 

industrial handicaps of this little country. 
Combination jj- j s tfie inherent national genius for corn- 
Co-operation, bining and organising. Among farmers we 

have seen it take the form of co-operative 
societies ; among working men it is manifested by trade 
unions, insurance clubs, and other forms of collective self- 
help. This combining faculty expresses itself also among 
manufacturers, but in another way ; not by co-operation, 
but by combination of capital. 

Agriculturalists have urged that their co-operative methods 
should be introduced by manufacturers, that co-operation, 
so successful in butter making, is a panacea for all ills. They 
have been abetted in these notions by the trade unionists, 
and vigorously opposed by captains of industry. The co- 
operative plan has indeed been attempted in factories in 
which the shareholders run the machinery and buy the goods, 
as well as direct operations ; but without any large measure 
of success. A co-operative cement factory planted at Aalborg 
in opposition to the factories of the " trust " on the banks 
of the Lime Fjord has encountered litigation and general 
disfavour. The application of the co-operative principle 



Captains of Industry 



69 



to factory labour is not the same as its application to agri- 
cultural activities. In the latter case, the owner of the lone 
and solitary cow is remunerated in proportion to the pounds 
of cream which he delivers at the central co-operative dairy ; 
everything depends upon his individual effort. In factory co- 
operation, on the other hand, the personal factor is of necessity 
lost in the general equation : " too many cooks spoil the broth/' 
The Socialists in Denmark, as in other countries, would go 
a step further than co-operation, and surrender big business 

into the hands of the State. In many 
Ownership instances, indeed, where absolute monopolies 

exist, the government has taken over control. 
The State, or the municipalities, do now own and operate some 
of the railroads, telephones and telegraphs, electric light 
plants, gas, water supply, and tram lines. There are also 
private railroads owned proportionately by the individuals 
through whose land the train is run. With these exceptions 
State socialism and co-operation have kept their hands off 
big business which depends for its life on competition in the 
open market at home and abroad. 

In banking also, and in international commercial enter- 
prises, it has not been state ownership or co-operative societies 

but the personal initiative of master minds 

InitStive that has & ras P ed and bound together the 
complicated threads of combination. What 
chance of development had the national banks, the cable 
lines, the shipping enterprises, except by the intrepidity of 
individuals who were willing to hazard their all when the 
chances of failure exceeded the chances of success ? 

Several of the existing business combinations that spell 
prosperity are due to the foresight and determination of one 
man, Carl Frederik Tietgen. This banker, 
Tietgen. the J. Pierpont Morgan of the North, the 
captain of Danish finance, was born in 1829. 
The Private Bank of Copenhagen, organised by him in 1857, 
helped Danish business to weather the disastrous Prussian 



70 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



War. In its offices Tietgen formed a chain of stock companies 
that connected Denmark with the outer world : — The United 
Steamship Company that trades to-day from Russia to the 
United States, and maintains a passenger service between 
Copenhagen and New York ; the shipbuilding house of 
Burmeister and Wain ; the Danish sugar trust, now the 
largest of Danish manufactures ; and numerous railroad 
companies and other combinations of capital. Tietgen was 
bitterly opposed by business enemies at home. At one time 
he was obliged to save himself by selling his securities in 
France. But he persisted, and finally was everywhere 
acknowledged as a public benefactor. His Danish manners 
were quiet and unassuming. At the time of his death, in 1901, 
he was regarded less as a personality than as a national 
institution. His statue has been fittingly placed so that it 
faces the canal in front of the Bourse, the splendid old 
exchange built by King Christian IV. 

Tietgen's commercial master-work was the formation, in 
1869, of the Great Northern Telegraph Company. By the 

fortuitous combination of several cable lines 
The Great anc i by securing concessions from seven 
Telegraph nations, Tietgen was able to send messages 
Company. from Calais or Newcastle via Denmark to the 

Orient. The Company laid a cable from 
Siberia to Japan, and thence to China, and later down the 
Chinese coast. Eventually the Company organised the 
telegraph service of the Chinese Empire. The " Great 
Northern " is capitalised at 27,000,000 kroner, with a reserve 
fund of 39,600,000 kroner, and pays dividends at rates as 
high as 24 per cent, per annum. 

Other powerful banks have been formed in Copenhagen to 
handle big business, notably the Handelsbank and the Land- 

mandsbank, the former, as the name indicates, 
Banks. catering especially to trade, the latter to 

agriculture. The Landmandsbank was de- 
veloped by the genius of the Gliickstadt family, father and 



Captains of Industry 71 



son, and has a network of branches over the land. In this 
connection should be mentioned the Credit Union Banks 
and the Savings Banks. The savings in the latter amount 
(1914) to 300 kroner per capita, or more than in any other 
country. 

Eastern Asia has in our day seen the exploits of several 
merchant adventurers. Near Copenhagen, on the coast, 
is a palace, the residence of Mr. H. N. Ander- 

" Andersen " sen — usuall y known by his Danish title of 
Etatsraad or " Privy Councillor " — a sailor, 
banker, prince of merchants and more, all in one. Born in 
1852, he spent his early life before the mast, and settled in 
1878 far out in Siam. In 1884 this versatile genius founded 
a banking and trading house in Bangkok, with a branch in 
Copenhagen, which grew until it was merged into the Danish 
East Asiatic Company, formed in 1897, with Mr. Andersen 
as managing director, a position which he has since held. 
This company now ships most of the foreign freight not 
carried by the United Steamship Company. It was Mr. 
Andersen who took the responsibility of constructing smoke- 
less motor ships, four of which now ply between Copenhagen 
and the Malay Archipelago. His company has established a 
Portland Cement factory near Aalborg, and a soya bean 
factory at Copenhagen, has taken over the trade route with 
the Danish West Indies, and engaged in many commercial 
and industrial operations at home and abroad, including the 
acquisition of forests in Siam and vast rubber plantations 
in Johore. 

Like the story of Aladdin's lamp is the life experience of 
another Danish-Siamese financier, the Admiral Andreas 
du Plessis de Richelieu. Born in Slesvig 

I^chelieu ^ e same y ear as Etatsraad Andersen, he 
became like him a sailor boy, whose imagina- 
tion had free play during the long voyages. In 1874 Richelieu 
entered the Siamese navy ; in 1890 became Admiral ; and 
from 1899 to 1902 served as Siam's Minister of Marine. During 

6— (2384) 



72 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



his long residence in the East, he put many young Danish 
men in the way of business opportunities in Siam and else- 
where, and opened several commercial connections of great 
profit to his native land. In 1902 Richelieu returned to 
Denmark, where he was decorated with the Grand Cross of 
the Dannebrog, and made a director of the Danish East 
Asiatic Company, the United Steamship Company, the 
shipbuilding house of Burmeister and Wain, and the 
Landmandsb ank . 

The Danish people may be depended upon to continue to 
exercise the same shrewd sense of the relative fitness of 

business principles in the future that has 
industry * characterised their economic progress in the 

past. Co-operative societies will continue to 
work advantage to the farmer. Unemployment clubs will 
better the lot of the workman. State ownership will be 
applied successfully to railroads and telegraphs. But Social 
Democracy may well check its triumphant course this side 
of competitive industry and commerce. Here the aristocracy 
of creative intellect must be free to perform its reasonable 
functions as unrestrained as in literature and in art. The 
personal element counts as much in great business, all appear- 
ances to the contrary, as in great art or literature. Important 
assets indeed to any nation are men like Tietgen and Jacobsen, 
Andersen and Richelieu, Foss and Prior, who unite mechanical 
skill with a zest for bargaining, and organising powers with 
a spirit of grand adventure. 



CHAPTER VI 



THE FOLK HIGH SCHOOL 

Beneath all the intensive economic development of the last 
half-century there has rested a sure and solid foundation, 

namely, the Danish system of education. 
Solid Educational To a f ore ign e r visiting a Danish classroom 

there appears to be an informality and 
inconsequential air of comradeship between teacher and 
pupil that proves deceptive. Education is adapted to the 
individual less by rule than by the personal equation. "A 
fig for the examinations/' a headmaster of Soro School was 
accustomed to say to his pupils early in the year ; " We are 
preparing for life. Non scholae sed vitae discinius." A month 
before the date of the examinations, however, he would urge 
them on by crying, " Now to it, boys, we are on the home 
stretch ! " The average Danish boy has an amiable feeling 
of fellowship for his books which is refreshing, to say the least ; 
and his lessons have a knack of clinging to his mind in after 
life. The Dane has a surprising memory for historical dates, 
chemical formulae, and Latin verse. One feels the secret 
of his training has been that his teachers realised, in the 
words of Browning's Paracelsus, that " to know 

Rather consists in opening out a way 
Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape, 
Than in effecting entry for a light 
Supposed to be without." 

Authorised statistics seldom lie. According to United 
States immigration reports, immigrants from Scandinavia 
showed, in 1909, a lower percentage of 
I ^cords° n literacy th an those coming from any other 
nation, Scotland not excepted. The average 
percentage of illiterates over fourteen years of age from 1899 

73 



74 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



to 1909 of Scandinavian birth was -4, of Scottish -7, of German 
5-1, of South Italian 54-2. Small wonder then that the 
Danes, with their superior intelligence, are welcome in 
America, and that Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, during his 
visit to Denmark in 1910, is reported to have said that the 
United States had only one fault to find with the Danes — that 
so few of them had come to America. 

The Danish system of education has evolved a peculiar 
institution, unique of its kind and national in spirit, called 
the Folk High School. The title is mis- 
High 6 School lading : folk high schools are not to be 
confused with the free State schools — the 
Folkeskole — nor with ordinary high schools. They are 
boarding schools, or rural colleges, for young people from the 
farms, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, when 
they have finished their regular schooling. They come to the 
institution at times when farm duties are lightest, the men 
usually in the winter for a five months' course ; the women 
for three months in the summer. 

The folk high school owes its existence to the inspiration 
of one individual, in the middle of the last century. Bishop 
Nicolaj Grundtvig was the prophet of a 
Grundtvig movement within the Danish Lutheran Church 
toward a more personal form of religion. 
His followers formed parishes of their own, and are to this 
day called " Grundtvigians." Bishop Grundtvig's interest 
was aroused for the farmer youth growing into manhood, his 
school-days ended, but not his capacity for idealism, following 
the furrow and dreaming dreams that needs must never be 
fulfilled ; for the reflective daughter of the farmstead, also, 
budding into womanhood, on the threshold of a life of stern 
reality. The sympathetic reformer wished to find some 
way to foster these dreams of youth before they died for 
ever, and preserve them as a lifelong inspiration to the 
men and women who were to live by the sweat of their 
brows. 



The Folk High School 



75 



Education, Grundtvig maintained, should be imparted by 
means of the spoken, the living word, as opposed to the dead 
word of books ; by word of mouth, in an 
" ^ord*"^ atmosphere of idealism and enthusiasm. On 
the one hand, the teaching ought not to be 
too technical or practical ; the soul of the young farmer 
could never be given wings if his studies were confined to 
chemical analyses of milk, and the like. On the other hand, 
teaching should not be so learned and impracticable as to 
induce despondency or contempt in the mind of the scholar 
for his work : it ought, rather, to be directed in such a way 
as to ennoble each humble task to which he was to return. 
Poetry and patriotism entered into Grundtvig's conception 
of education, an appeal to the heart even more than to the 
mind. The folk high schools which were founded on his 
principles have made history their basic study, especially 
history of the native land ; and after history, literature, 
while conversation is encouraged, and many periods of the day 
are devoted to song. Education at the folk high schools 
means not a " leading out " from books, but from the student's 
inner consciousness, and an awakening of the whole being to 
the fullness and richness of a Christian life. 

The first folk high schools were built before the last Prussian 
War. The initial venture was made in 1844 at Rodding, 
over the border, in what is now German 
Growth Slesvig. They became rapidly popular. To- 
day, throughout the rural districts, there are 
nearly eighty folk high schools, attended by almost 10,000 
students. One person out of every ten of the population 
spends a term of residence at one of these institutions. 

Although most of the folk high schools receive financial 
assistance from the State, they are privately owned, often by 
the headmaster. The students pay between 

a i? Jl~ a >> 30 and 40 kroner a month for tuition and 
Forstander. . 

board. There are many aids and scholarships. 
Students come from other countries, Russia, for example, as 



76 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



well as from all parts of Denmark. It may be remarked that 
they furnish their own bedding. 

The character of a school depends largely upon the per- 
sonality of the principal : Forstander, he is called. When the 
Liberal Government of 1910-13 was formed, Mr. Jacob 
Appel, Principal of Askov, the largest of the folk high schools, 
was appointed Minister of Education. Thereupon his wife, 
Ingeborg, succeeded him as head of the institution. The 
principal of the school often leads the singing, which, 
at the folk high schools, is both long and hearty. It is a 
humorous saying round about Denmark, when a young 
lady is over fond of singing, that " she is going to marry a 
high school Forstander." His enthusiasm and influence upon 
the students sometimes is similar to that of a revivalist upon 
his hearers. " When I came to Kold," a former student 
said of one of the early Forstandere, " my life was as a broken 
vessel. When I left him the fragments had been united, 
the vessel made whole." 

Take the plan of studies in the winter session of the 
advanced folk high school at Askov, and select a Monday. At 
8 o'clock lectures begin on the development 
Study * °^ ^S 113 ^ I fr° m 9, there is an hour of 
gymnastic exercises, followed by breakfast ; 
at 10.30, the history of physics; at 11.30, Scandinavian 
history ; drawing from 12.30 until 2 ; then dinner ; then, in 
the afternoon, from 3.15 until 3.45, a half -hour of song; at 
4, social science ; at 5, the Danish language and composition ; 
at 6, the history of literature. On certain days there are 
lectures in mathematics, geography, hygiene, classes in 
English and German ; but no day's programme misses 
gymnastics and song. 

The folk high schools accentuate the importance of agricul- 
ture in the fabric of the nation, and are strongholds of Liberal 
politics. Criticism has been directed against these institutions 
by members of the Conservative Party, who claim that 
they encourage superficiality, conceit, fustian, and bluster. 



The Folk High School 77 



Certain Radicals and Socialists, on the other hand, protest 
against them on the ground that they foster vague dreamers 
and promote mediaeval habits of thinking 

St patdotism ° f t * ia * are °PP ose( l *° progress. In answer 
to both camps of critics, it may be 
truly said that the folk high schools have engendered an 
ardent patriotism. Their national pride looks toward peace 
rather than war. About the buildings and grounds of the 
schools statuary is erected, tablets and memorial stones to 
those who have served the State, thus stimulating love of 
country ; and the men whose names and busts are selected 
thus as models for the youth of Denmark are not usually the 
heroes of battles, but patriots who have brought about social 
and economic reform. The enlightening influence of these 
popular schools has made possible Denmark's astonishing 
achievement in co-operative farming. Eighty per cent, of 
the managers, supervisors, and officials of the co-operative 
societies have been at one time folk high school students. 
In reclaiming the heath of Jutland, Colonel Dalgas found in 
these schools the most ready response to his appeals for 
reforestation. 

The folk high schools, indeed, have performed the mission 
that Bishop Grundtvig, their founder, desired, of reconciling 
the drudgery of farm life with ideal thinking, and, in a 
measure, of changing the ploughman's sighing into song and 
praise. 

While the folk high schools do not offer courses in the 
science of agriculture, there are in the land upwards of 29 

local agricultural schools approved by the 
A Schools! al Government, that are usually attended by 

young agriculturalists after they have spent 
a winter at a folk high school. The agricultural schools 
provide for a special training in the scientific feeding of 
cattle, the making of butter, and the general management of 
the farm. There are also schools to train the " State's house- 
men " — those who buy small holdings with State loans. 



78 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Kaerehave, the largest of these schools, provides a term of 
six months ; also a shorter course for those whose time is 
limited, of eleven days. At the long session the average 
age of attendance is 23 years, at the short term 34 years. 
The pupil may receive from the State a stipend to cover loss 
of wages. Here, prospective " housemen " and their fiancees 
pursue studies that fit them especially for managing tiny farms. 
Similarly, in the cities, there are excellent trade schools, 
Trade both day and night, for prospective 
Schools. artisans. 
The common school system of Denmark is a trifle confusing 
to the foreigner, who hears many terms for various types 

of school which answer the requirements of 
School °System individual taste in education, or have grown 

up out of different systems established in 
the centuries since the Middle Ages. The Government is 
now reducing the whole to a simpler basis, whereby the same 
preliminary training will prepare the student who later is 
to enter the university and the one who is destined for the 
trades. In reality, there are three grades of schools — the 
folk school, the secondary, the university. Under the first 
classification the terms folkeskole or element arskole are 
employed ; under the second fall the hdjere almenskole, or 
mellemskole with realklasse and gymnasium ; parallel with 
the University are other institutions of special or advanced 
study, such as the Institute of Technology, the Agricultural 
and Veterinary Institute, the Dental College, the College of 
Pharmacy, and, to extend the survey, the Academy of Fine 
Arts, the private musical conservatories, and the schools for 
officers. 

Let us take, for example, a Danish boy from a country 
village, and follow the various steps in his education. In 
the case of a girl the process would be prac- 
A Boy * 17 tically the same. The compulsory system 
obliges the pupil to attend school from the 
ages of seven to fourteen. His parents may, if they choose, 



The Folk High School 



79 



enter him at six years. In the village he goes to the folke- 
skole, the free elementary school, where he finds 30 children, 
perhaps, in one room, under a woman teacher. Here he is 
taught, in the course of the years, reading, grammar, religion, 
writing, arithmetic, history, geography, singing, and gym- 
nastics. Natural science and sloyd are optional in the 
country schools ; in the cities the latter is also required. 
The school day varies with district and season. It may last 
from 8 to 12, and from 1 to 3. The length of the school 
year increases from six school months in the younger grades 
until ten months in the higher grades. For all schools 
mid- July to mid- August is a vacation month. 

The folkeskoler are under the supervision of the Ministry 
for Church and Education, as nearly all other schools, both 

public and private. Even private institu- 
T Schooi ee ti° ns > ^ they fulfil certain conditions, may 

receive subsidies from the State. Teachers 
are fairly well remunerated. The folkeskoler are attended by 
six-sevenths of the children of Denmark. 

At the age of fourteen, the Danish boy is graduated from 
the folkeskole. He is then free to begin farming, enter a 

factory, or take up some other form of 
T Schoof h occupation. If, however, his parents are 

ambitious for the lad — wish him to prepare 
for the law or the ministry, or engineering, he must be with- 
drawn from the folkeskole at the age of eleven and sent to a 
school under the official classification of hojere altnenskole, 
where Latin and modern languages are added to his studies. 

Of the schools of every description from which the lad may 
choose for the mellemskole stage in his training, there are two 

institutions, Herlufsholm and Soro, which 

° and^aTrw° n corres P on d * n a wa y t° Eton and Harrow. 

The former is a private establishment, the 
latter a State school. In the twelfth century, Soro School 
was a Cistercian monastery. Its abbey church is still standing, 
and contains the bones of two great benefactors of Soro — the 



80 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



warrior bishop Absalon, and the dramatist, Baron Ludvig 
Holberg, of the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries respec- 
tively. After the Reformation, there was founded an 
academy for youths of noble birth. Now the institution is 
most democratic. The school buildings are beautifully 
situated on the shores of Soro Lake, close to a forest of beech 
trees, presented to the school by Baron Holberg, which 
constitute a large source of revenue. The boys of Soro 
have imported cricket from England, and play annual matches 
with their rivals from Herlufsholm School. They maintain 
a voluntary rifle corps, which is allowed to make all-night 
expeditions for field practice to neighbouring estates. The 
school orchestra is well trained, and dramatic performances, 
especially the presentation of Holberg' s comedies, are entered 
into with enthusiasm. School meals are usually simple, but 
wholesome and plentiful. Four times a year the boys are 
regaled with goose for dinner, and each lad is made happy 
with an entire sixth section of a goose, cut by the table 
master with a cleaver or a stout pruning-knife. On " Duck 
Day/' which also occurs quarterly, one-fourth of a fowl is 
each boy's portion. On " Pear Day," the headmaster is 
expected to appear on a balcony, from which he tosses the 
surplus crop of his pear orchard into hands ready to catch them. 

At the age of fifteen, the boy faces, as previously at the 
age of eleven, a fork in the roads leading to his career for life. 

If he does not intend to enter the university, 
" Realeksamen " ^ e ma '^ complete his education with another 

year of general study in the realklasse, and 
be graduated after passing a test called the realeksamen. 

If he wishes to enter the university, he remains three years 
more at the gymnasium, instead of one, and takes, at the 

age of eighteen, his studentereksamen. Hence- 
„ , The , forth, whether he ever actually attends 
samen." " university lectures or not, he is entitled to 

wear a white cap and be called a student. About 
800 young people pass the " student examination " each year. 



Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

THE COLLEGE, HERLUFSHOLM 



The Folk High School 



81 



There is in Denmark only one University, the University 

of Copenhagen, a venerable institution, dating from 1479. 

Near four centuries after its foundation, the 

TT . Th * , University was opened to women. Some 
university of 

Copenhagen. 2,500 students attend here the lectures of 
sixty professors and thirty docents, divided 
among five faculties : Philosophy, Science, Medicine, Law, 
and Theology. Students pay no tuition fees, and many of 
the lectures are open even to the general public. At the 
end of the first year students intending to take a degree 
must pass an examination called filosofikum. Those who do 
not intend to prepare for a professional career usually leave 
the University at that time. In order to receive a professional 
degree, the student must pass the so-called embedseksamen, 
which necessitates from five to seven years' of preparatory 
reading in or out of residence. Thus, a prospective lawyer 
spends six years at the University of Copenhagen. 

Similarly severe is the preparation for degrees in engineering, 
surveying, and agricultural efficiency at institutions that 
parallel the University, such as the Institute of Technology, 
and the Royal Agricultural and Veterinary Institute. 

There is little student life, as the Englishman understands 
it, at the University of Copenhagen. The Danish student 
makes a serious profession of his studies. 
S Ufe nt There are various endowed dormitories, so- 
called " colleges/' chief of which is the 
" Regensen," where students in residence receive not only free 
lodging, but money allowances for clothes and books. Here 
they often gather in one room or another and smoke their long 
bowl pipes. In the " Regensen " much of Denmark's drama 
and verse has been composed. The chief clubs are the 
Studenterforening, whose politics are Liberal-Conservative, 
and the Studentersarnfund, the tendency of whose members 
is Radical. These clubs are provided with libraries and 
reading-rooms, and with halls, where lectures are held on 
Saturday nights, and, occasionally, balls and other forms of 



82 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



recreation. They are intensely democratic in spirit, and 
exercise some influence upon national politics. 

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy is conferred by the 
University of Copenhagen only in recognition of long years 
of study. The candidate is obliged to 
Doctorate publish a thesis and defend it publicly. 

The Doctorate is supposed to represent 
more arduous research than the corresponding degree at 
German Universities — often ten years of University study. 
In and out of the University, learned societies and 
publications abound. 

Scholars are often supported in making advanced researches 
by stipends from the Carlsberg Fund, 
C Fund fg established by the wealthy brewer, Dr. J. C. 
Jacobsen. 

Each year, two advanced students, as well as two each 

from Sweden and from Norway, are nominated to pursue 

special studies in the United States. They 

The American- receive liberal stipends and are known as 
Scandinavian „ -~ « r xti A • j- 

Foundation. Fellows of the American-Scandinavian 

Foundation." This Foundation is provided 
with an endowment of 2,000,000 kroner to promote cultural 
relations between Scandinavia and America. It was estab- 
lished in 1911 by a magnanimous and public-spirited Danish- 
American, Niels Poulson, who emigrated as a boy and achieved 
by his own efforts a fortune in the New World, which he 
bequeathed as a Foundation, with the hope and belief that 
a larger mutual acquaintance with the highest achievements 
in science, literature, and art would redound to the benefit 
both of the United States and of Scandinavia. 



CHAPTER VII 



HOME LIFE 

Despite co-operation, socialism, industrialism, technical 
research, woman's emancipation, and all the other con- 
comitants of open-eyed modern existence, 

Tractions home life in Denmark sti11 retains its old- 
fashioned charm. Traditions of domesticity 
are closely adhered to in the families of professional men and 
well-to-do merchants, as well as on the old landed estates. 

The women, who rule the homes of Denmark, are celebrated 
for their unfailing gentleness. Their speech has been com- 
pared by a German writer to the whisper of 
Women nature in the forest, and their laughter 
described as an " audible smile." Their 
beauty, grace, and charm may be attributed in part to 
physical training and life in the open. When children, they 
learn to swim at the municipal swimming pools for girls, 
superintended by expert women teachers. From the age 
of five, they attend gymnastic classes at well-equipped 
gymnasiums connected with both city and rural schools. 
Hockey, on land or on the ice, is a favourite pastime. Men 
and women play together, and the wife's team often defeats 
that of the husband. On holidays the family goes picnicking 
into the beech woods. 

Usually a young woman, on becoming engaged to be 
married, ceases to be a wage-earner, as she then gives herself 
heart and soul to the study of household 
Matrimony 17 econom y- The period of her engagement is 
conscientiously employed in qualifying to 
become a proficient housewife. Until recently, it was deemed 
advantageous for the engaged young woman to go to the 

83 



84 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



home of a friend or relative to gain self-reliance and practical 
experience in managing a house. Within the past decade or 
two, a number of excellent schools of domestic science have 
been opened, which are proving attractive to young women 
who enjoy being taught how to cook and sew, and, above all, 
how to buy intelligently. 

Woman's throne is the home, and here, in this country, as 
elsewhere, woman reigns supreme. The mother of a large 

family contrives somehow to share in their 
Throne S occupations and amusements. The close 

intimacy of the household is characterised 
by a peculiar word, hyggelig, inadequately translated " cosy/ 1 
The memory of her old home induces many a Danish woman 
married in America to return occasionally to visit the simple 
abode of her childhood ; it is perhaps the same home longing 
which brings back each summer the two fair sisters who went 
abroad to become Empresses — Alexandra, Ex-Empress of 
India, and Dagmar, Dowager Tsaritsa of Russia — to share 
again their modest villa amid girlhood scenes. 

The Danish housewife is usually an excellent cook. It is 
asserted by travellers that the table of people of modest 

means is, for quality and quantity, the best 
Table. * n Europe. The national dietetics call for 

smorrebrod, or sandwiches, for luncheon — 
sandwiches of every description — and hot fruit soups for 
dinner : apple soup, cherry soup, plum soup, and sago soup 
with strawberries. Luncheon hour is usually not later than 
12 o'clock, dinner at 5 o'clock, and light supper at 9. Even 
royalty is known to dine as early as 6 in the afternoon. 

Nowhere can hospitality be dispensed more lavishly than 
by the holders of old castles, where these have survived the 

disintegration of the great estates. In their 
Hospitality. entertaining, my lord, the Danish Count, 

and his Countess are most unassuming and 
friendly to their guests and maintain an easy charm of 
manner and ready flow of conversation. 



Home Life 



85 



The Island of Fyn is especially rich in manor halls. Its 
landscape is characterised by fields of grain, yellow at harvest 

time, and picturesque farm-houses of " binding 
^^sts f work " architecture. Far from its high roads 

of travel, hidden save where a castled tower 
rises out of a beech grove, is many an ancient seat of the old 
nobility, to remind modern social Denmark of its paternal 
past. While the moat is now a lily pond and the drawbridge 
never raised, the traditional hospitality of its owners still 
continues. There are balls in summer-time, hunting parties 
in the autumn ; in August, cavalcades of guests, who ride 
joyously from one house-party to another. Nor are these 
functions always merely for a favoured few; a manor will 
open its doors to a congress of foresters, or a meeting of 
antiquaries, to house a volunteer bicycle corps, or a young 
people's Christian conference. On these occasions, the 
stables and garden pavilions are converted into improvised 
dormitories, from which the song, " There is a Lovely Land," 
rings out through the night air. Some day, a gifted writer 
of romance, or an illustrator, will discover anew and glorify 
for the benefit of the larger world these so-called herregaarde, 
the " gentleman-farms " of Fyn. 

Let us shift the scene from summer to winter, and from 
Fyn to another island, Sjaelland, at Christmas Eve. Christmas, 

the Danish Jul, was a mid-winter feast of 

Ch Eve maS t ^ ie P eo P* es °* Northern Europe in pagan 
times. Christmas Eve marked the beginning 
then, as it does to-day, of two weeks of merrymaking. In the 
country districts no work that is not absolutely necessary is 
done during that period. The farmers, rich and poor, visit 
from farm to farm, sleighing, skating, shooting, hunting, 
and feasting at the rural banquets which survive as a custom 
from Viking times. Christmas Eve is more important than 
Christmas Day itself. Juleaften is dedicated especially to 
the family, and all its members are expected to return for 
the occasion to dance around the Christmas tree. 



86 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



On one occasion, when a stranger from over seas was so 
fortunate as to celebrate Christmas Eve with one of Denmark's 
gentle families at their country seat, a long 

At Castle niSh drive in a slei S h through the woods brought 
the guest within sight of the tower. Danish 
castles are not large, as castles go. What they lack in size, 
they make up for in quaintness. This particular structure 
presented a turret and dull brick walls, stuccoed here and 
there, indented with niches, augmented by rambling wings 
and additions, the patch-work of centuries, that gave to 
the whole array of buildings, as it rose from the lake, an 
atmosphere of antiquity and romance. 

The stranger's arrival was announced by a great bell, rung 
with a rope, accompanied by the tooting of horns. In spite 
of the low temperature, people came out on the steps to 
meet the guest. The Count grasped his hand vigorously. 
" Welcome," he cried, " glaedelig jul," which is the equivalent 
of " Merry Christmas." Then the Countess advanced 
smiling, and the guest was introduced to four or five fair 
daughters, and the fiances of the two eldest — for fiances 
are always counted as members of the household on Christmas 
Eve — and two small brothers, an# several aunts and uncles, 
and finally, inside the hall, the grandmother, a stately but 
kindly dowager. 

After luncheon, the young people went for a skate in the 
old moat. Hearing the music of a waltz from the castle, 
members of the skating party proceeded to 
Skates dance on the ice with as much ease, appar- 
ently, as though they were dancing on a 
ballroom floor. Later in the afternoon, they adjourned to 
the lake in the park, where they played hockey, the young 
ladies lining up against the men, and obtaining an over- 
whelming victory. Diana in the hunt was never swifter or 
more agile than Miss Denmark on her skates. 

After dark, about 5 o'clock, all hands climbed into the 
sleighs and drove behind tingling bells down to the village 



Home Life 



87 



church. Glad Christmas peals rang out through the falling 
snow. Along the village street every window was illum- 
inated with candles, and usually a Christmas 

to^hurch tree cou ^ ^ e seen within, festooned with 
tinsel. On several doorsteps, bowls of porridge 
were set out for the Nisse, the Brownies of Danish household 
lore, little men no higher than a man's knee, with grey jackets 
and red caps and long cotton beards, who must be banquetted 
and propitiated at Yuletide. Sheaves of wheat, too, were 
fastened to the shutters, ready for the birds on Christmas 
morn. 

After Church service, the party returned to the castle to 
gather around the Christmas tree. There was a dazzling 
array of lighted candles. About the tree and 
Th Tree Ule ^ on S the walls, boxes and parcels of every 
description were piled up. In the centre of 
the room the Yule Tree itself towered, brushing the high 
ceiling, the branches ablaze with candles and hanging heavy 
with ornaments and cornucopias. The family — old, young, 
master and servant, gathered about the tree. One of the 
footmen brought in a basket of song books, which the Count 
himself distributed, and&all joined in singing a beautiful 
Christmas carol. Tears, no doubt caused by fond memories, 
streamed like April showers from the old housekeeper's eyes, 
and the butler seemed to be sobbing. This sentimental grief 
was soon forgotten, and smiles took its place when all joined 
hands in the dance around the tree. The dance over, the tree 
was inspected, and upon its branches each member of the 
party found some little trinket with his name attached. The 
Count mounted a table and made his Christmas speech ; the 
larger parcels and boxes by the wall were brought to him, and 
he handed them out one by one, calling off the names, each 
with an appropriate jest. 

The day of festivity ended with a family dinner of many 
covers. Between the courses, the stalwart Count arose to 
propose toasts — a health in Scandinavia is called a skaal — 

7— (2384) 



88 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



now for " Our Guest/' now for " Our Engaged Couples/' 
and twice for " Our Dear Grandmother, long may she be with 
us." After every toast, all rose and drank, 
^™ ly shouting the word " skaal ! " The aged grand- 
mother watched over her spectacles with 
kindly eyes. According to the youngest of the sisters, the 
shadows in the far corners of the room were full of real Nisse, 
little old men and women who have thus brought good luck 
for centuries, dancing with glee at the sight of the new 
generation of young folks so happy on Christmas Eve. 



CHAPTER VIII 



BEFORE AND AFTER BRANDES 

Northern literature has a different background, a different 
system of imagery from that of other Christian literatures. 

Behind the thin veil of Christian thought 
°Thor nd gl eam the glory that was Greece, and the 

grandeur that was Rome, and the glamour 
that was Hebrew mysticism. But in Scandinavia, in mediaeval 
times, when the scribes of Britain, France, and Italy were 
writing commentaries on the classics and lives of the saints, 
a pagan literature that knew not Homer nor Aristotle, and 
neither the law nor the prophets, was producing a poetry and 
a prose dedicated to Odin and to Thor. While the eddas and 
sagas may not be compared in elegance and lucidity with the 
masterpieces of classical antiquity, nor in majesty and 
exaltation with Hebrew and Christian literature, they excel 
both in passages of passionate intensity and graphic brevity. 

Northern stanzaic verse seems to have been a common 
development of the Scandinavian peoples at a time when the 

barriers of dialect were not appreciable. 
Ed Saga nd Poetry culminated in the tenth century with 

the triumphal odes of the skalds and the 
anonymous lays of the so-called " Elder Edda," epical 
fragments, often written in the form of dramatic dialogues, 
that recite the story of the gods — the world tree Iggdrasil, 
Valhalla, and the Ragnarok — as well as the deeds of mythical 
mortals — Wayland the Smith, the Volsungs, and Helgi and 
his tragic love. Prose matured later than verse, being 
perfected in the Icelandic sagas of the thirteenth century. 
These are histories and biographies of the Scandinavian 
aristocracy, tales red with the blood of dying heroes, grimly 
smiling at fate, actuated by the duty of family loyalty and 

89 



90 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



revenge. The master of saga style, the Herodotus of Northern 
antiquity, was Snorri Sturluson, the Icelandic lawyer, who 
wrote a treatise on mythology, now known as the Prose 
Edda, and the Heimskringla, a history of the Kings of Norway. 

The ultimate source of nearly all Scandinavian literature, 
whether in ancient or modern times, is the folk tale. From 

time immemorial, in the homes of the North, 
Th Tale lk t ^ ie * on S w ^ nter evenings around the firesides 

have been whiled away by oral recitation. 
Often folk tales are repeated and added to, generation after 
generation, before they find their way to pen and printed 
page. Snorri in Iceland drew for saga material from that 
storehouse ; so have Andersen in Denmark, Ibsen in Norway, 
and Lagerlof in Sweden. From the folk tale Northern 
literature has derived its directness and vividness. 

From the folk tale, also, the literature of the North has 
inherited the two characteristics that are its most striking 

attributes — the dramatic and the reflective. 

D Re I flective nd The inherent P ower to analyse character 
swiftly and accurately, peculiar to the Dane 
and the Icelander, gives a dramatic zest both to conversation 
and to letter-writing. In literature it is not the action that 
delights the Northern mind so much as the unfolding of 
personality through action. Yet not through action alone ; 
prose styles as divergent as those of Snorri and Hans Christian 
Andersen manifest a common resort to dramatic dialogue. 
Even a darning needle speaks its way through one of Andersen's 
fairy tales. 

Beside this dramatic quality, the dominant note in Northern 
literature is the reflective. Whether in the Eddie lays or in 
the ballads of Hamlet's people, one meets this spirit of brooding 
introspection, dark and true and tender. To its persistence 
may be due in part the failure of Northern literature to 
produce novels with closely knit plots. Often so-called 
romances are little more than collections of reflective soliloquies 
and dramatic monologues. 



Before and After Brandes 91 



Danish literature, as distinct from the ancient eddas and 
sagas which all Scandinavian peoples regard as their common 
heritage, may be said to begin with Saxo 
Saxo. Grammaticus, the Danish monk of the 
twelfth century, who chose for his literary 
medium, not the vernacular, but a baroque and gorgeous 
Latin. His History of the Danes is a treasure-house of national 
traditions and historical fictions, which to this day quickens 
the imagination of Danish youth, and has, moreover, enriched 
English literature with the plot of our greatest drama, Hamlet, 
Prince of Denmark. 

The interval from Saxo to modern Danish literature is 
bridged by the popular ballads, the best of which were com- 
posed before the Reformation. Like the 
BafladT popular ballads of other lands, they are 
supposed to have been composed by the 
people collectively, singing and dancing at the same time. 
They record historical events, fairy adventures, and tales of 
love. The Danish ballads are preserved in better form and 
are of a higher order of artistic merit than the folk songs of 
other lands. 

The inherent dramatic character of the Northern imagina- 
tion was first embodied in actual drama, early in the 

eighteenth century, by Ludvig Holberg (1684- 
Holberg. 1754), a Norwegian-born writer, who lived 

and worked in Denmark. Educated at 
Oxford and on the Continent, he became a Professor at the 
University of Copenhagen, and took upon himself the mission 
of bringing provincial Danish thought into closer touch with 
the literature of Europe. His production was enormous, as 
dramatist, philosopher, historian, satirist. In drama he 
has been called " The Danish Moliere." Holberg introduced 
the peasant into Danish literature. His peasant comedies, 
especially Jeppe of the Hill and Erasmus Montanus, are as 
real to-day as when they were first written, and still provoke 
the laughter of theatre-goers as readily as Twelfth Night or 



92 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



As You Like It. But, by some strange perversity of fate, 
Holberg' s plays did not become generally known to English- 
speaking peoples for two succeeding centuries, until 
translations of six of his comedies appeared in 1913 and 1914. 
Holberg was the classic Danish writer of comedy, 
o hi hr Oehlenschlager of tragedy. Oehlenschlager 
(1779-1850) wrote in verse, and was the 
leading Danish poet of the school of romanticism. 

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the most popular 
novelist was Ingermann, Denmark's Sir Walter Scott. From 
the middle of the century, following in the 
Nineteenth wa ^ e °* romanticism, one may mention the 
Century. names of Steen Blicher, story-teller of the 
heath ; Christian Winther, the lyric poet ; 
Paludan-Miiller, a philosophical poet of deep vision ; Aaron 
Goldschmidt, a novelist translated and read in England ; 
and Soren Kierkegaard, the imaginative Christian philosopher 
who exemplified the reflective quality of the Northern mind 
almost as effectively as Holberg had previously done the 
dramatic. 

The name of at least one Danish writer has become a 
household word the world over — Hans Christian x\ndersen 
(1805-1875). Like Wilhelm Grimm, in 
Ha Andersen ian Germany, Andersen enriched the fancies of 
childhood from America to Japan. While 
Grimm re-told in literary form the time-honoured mdrchen 
of the people, Andersen invented out of his own imagination 
aeventyr that bid fair to be equally enduring. His fairy tales 
are permeated with the subtle humour and refreshing common 
sense that are typical of the Danish mind. 

In the 'GO's, while Danish authors were basking unobtru- 
sively in the afterglow of romanticism, more suppressed than 
ever after the national discouragement 

an^Realfsm 1 resultin S from the Prussian War, European 
thought was undergoing a change ; the 
ideas of Comte and Taine were taking root, the theories of 



Before and After Brandes 



93 



Mill and of Darwin. All minds were agitated by Darwin's 
Origin of Species, which appeared in 1859, and his Descent 
of Man, in 1871. For natural science, a new era of exact 
research had dawned ; for literature, a corresponding age of 
realism. At this time Denmark needed some strong hand to 
open the windows of thought to what was happening in 
Europe, just as Holberg had done a century and a half 
before. 

That interpreter came in the person of a brilliant young 
Radical thinker, Georg Brandes (1842), who, in 1871, began 

to deliver at the University of Copenhagen, 
Brandes. which had previously honoured him with the 

degree of Doctor, a series of lectures, published 
ater in book form, on The Main Currents of Nineteenth 
Century Literature. By the investigation of European 
literature, Brandes hoped to quicken the young authors of 
Denmark. He maintained that the home literature was 
dead, or nearly so, that it had become too artificial, too 
remote from life. Literature, to be vital, must concern 
itself directly with life, and interpret life's problems. Litera- 
ture must be a free and fearless presentation of burning issues 
and actual social conditions. Literature must " present all 
problems for debate." It may be passionate, artistic, even 
imaginative ; it must, however, be true to the scientific 
principles of the age, and be based upon objective 
observation, 

Brandes came as a chastening rod. He advocated indi- 
vidual freedom of expression. His radical views on religious 
and other matters aroused a storm of protest, 

A C lfod emng anc * ^ e was denied a chair at the University — 
a chair that remained empty. For six years 
after 1877, he resided in Berlin. But Brandes and his theories 
were only a few years in advance of the approaching tide of 
realism, a wave that was soon to overtake him and to carry 
him on its crest to popularity and a dominion over the minds 
of his people. 



94 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



The field of criticism covered by Brandes is far-reaching. 
He introduced Ibsen to Denmark and to Germany ; he 
discovered Nietzsche and exposed his indi- 
A Sh Crftk earian vidualistic doctrine of the superman to the 
world of thought. He has published books 
of essays on life and literature in Germany and Russia and 
Poland, as well as volumes in appreciation of Holberg and of 
Shakespeare. In 1914, as youthful in spirit as when he first 
lectured at the University of Copenhagen, he visited England 
and America, where he was invited to deliver lectures on 
Shakespeare. 

On these visits he expressed himself freely upon the 
literature and modern life about him, in the same spirit of 

relentless realism as in his youth, intolerant 
Hl Style° Se °* Bergson's doctrine of intuition and of any 

indication of a new mysticism in literature. 
His statements in conversations and recorded interviews 
were, like the prose style of his essays, often fragmentary 
and unbalanced, but always stinging, probing, and unfor- 
getable, with an underlying sweetness withal. In the essays 
of Brandes the prose style of modern Danish attains its 
maturity. 

Brandes offers the unusual phenomenon of a critic who 
preceded instead of followed the literature which he analysed. 

His criticism proved prophetic and creative. 

A of Society 11 ^ e queened Northern literature, not only in 
Denmark, but in Norway and Sweden as well. 
His influence upon the national Danish point of view has 
been incalculable for good as well as for evil. For, while 
his doctrines led to clean, open-weighing of problems of the 
day and the investigation of burning questions, by under- 
mining old established faiths and traditions they are, in 
part, responsible for the indifference and inconsequential 
attitude of the young toward many serious issues. 

The first fruit in literature of the new realism preached by 
Brandes was a young marine painter, who was constrained 



Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

GEORG BRANDES 



Before and After Brandes 95 



to lay aside the palette and take up the pen. Holger 
Drachmann (1846-1908) became a vigorous lyric poet, who 

has left to Danish literature a shelf-ful of 
Drachmann. verse. A rover, a vagabond, a singer of the sea, 

he was in many respects a Walt Whitman, 
blessed with the lyrical talents of a Poe. Among his people, 
his fearless individualism won him almost the popularity of 
a " culture " hero, and his ashes have been given a burial 
like those accorded the Viking skalds of old, in a cairn that 
rises on the ness of Skagen, Denmark's northernmost cape. 

A second disciple, persuaded by the teaching of Brandes, 
forsook the study of Botany. J. P. Jacobsen (1847-1885) 

was a young invalid when he left the micro- 
Jacobsen. scope and by supreme effort created a new 

Danish prose, and, having done so, died. 
Of Jacobsen, Brandes has said : " Never before in Northern 
literature has painting been done with words, as by him." 
His chief novels are Niels Lyhne, a social problem study, and 
Marie Grubbe, the romance of an historical woman from the 
sixteenth century, who was sought by many suitors and 
finally attained the salvation of her individuality at the loss 
of social prestige. Jacobsen was Darwin's translator and 
expositor. He wrote in verse, also, as acceptably as in prose, 
but his stanzas are as few and as exquisite as the fragments 
of Sappho. Indeed, that priceless jewel of Danish lyricism, 
Jacobsen's Irmelin Rose, may well be compared to Sappho's 
Ode to Aphrodite. Jacobsen's entire literary production is 
comprised within two precious volumes. 

Jacobsen, like Flaubert in France, had strained prose 
diction to a point where any further attempt to extend the 

uses of the Danish vocabulary would have 
Bang. resulted in mannerism. His follower, Hermann 

Bang (1857-1912), like Flaubert's pupil, de 
Maupassant, in France, had to resort to a skilful treatment 
with the materials already at hand. If Jacobsen was a 
naturalist, Bang was a pure impressionist, who suggested by 



96 



Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



passages of delicate and tremulous prose the scenes that 
make up his stories. His so-called masterpiece, By the 
Roadside, is a refined, gray-toned narrative of a Danish wife 
in an almost colourless environment, where love enters once 
and is sadly shown the door. Another novel, Tine, is a story 
of love accompanied by the booming of the guns at Dybbol, 
where the Danes made their long stand against the Prussians 
in '64. An officer, returning weary to the village near the 
battlefield in the intervals of firing, sacrifices a beautiful but 
simple peasant girl, who has our complete sympathy, but 
who fails to hold his affection. The tragedy of the story is 
brutal naturalism, but its denouement is inevitable. 

If Bang's sensitive prose seems sometimes scented with the 
aroma of the boudoir, that of Henrik Pont oppidan (1857) 
is pungent of the dank soil. This Spartan 

Pontoppidan. j n fiction is a naturalist of another calibre. 

Son of a pastor in Jutland, he has described 
Danish country life in a clean, cold style of pitiless realism. 
He expresses the chronic restlessness of his time, and dis- 
satisfaction with his own outlook upon life. In his master- 
piece, Lykkeper — a " three decker " — a pastor's son wanders 
from vocation to vocation in vain search for his fortune. 

Another manifestation of the spirit of realism is found in 
the novel which relies upon the results of scientific investi- 
gation. Behind Karl Larsen the novelist 
Larsen. (1860) is Karl Larsen the untiring collector 
of human experiences. As a botanist gathers 
and classifies his specimens, so Larsen makes use of letters, 
diaries, colloquialisms, children's prattle, and soldiers' jokes, 
which he weaves into his objective works of fiction. His 
recent series, From Out Yonder, is composed of actual letters, 
which Larsen has collected, written by Danish pioneers in 
America to their friends and kinsmen in Denmark. 

Among younger novelists, probably most promise has been 
shown by Johannes V. Jensen (1873), who has enriched 
Danish prose style by giving to familiar words unusual 



Before and After Brandes 97 



significance. He is a confirmed individualist, who has not yet 
defined his proper sphere. In one book he characterises the 

sturdy yeomanry of Jutland, from whom he 
Jensen. boasts his own descent, in another he becomes 

the interpreter of the world of machinery 
and modern industrialism. Like other realists, he proposes to 
be scientific. In preparation for The Glacier, he devoted 
himself assiduously to the study of geology, and actually 
studied life among the snow mountains of Norway ; the book 
is the narrative of a primitive man who survived the glacial 
period and became the forefather of the Gotho-Germanic 
race. 

Each in his own way, the modern novelist expresses his 
sense of individuality. Carl Ewald (1856-1908), forsaking 
the matter-of-factness of realism, reverted to 
Novelists fairy tales and nature allegory ; his Four 
Seasons has been translated into English. 
Jakob Knudsen (1858), a severe Radical, grapples with 
inner struggles, intellectual and religious. Peter Nansen 
(1862) is a clever stylist of the Bohemian life of the capital 
city ; as director of the Gyldendal Publishing House, he 
exerts considerable influence over young writers. Laurids 
Bruun (1864), an otherwise prolific and entertaining writer, 
in his novel The Eternal has treated the social struggle of 
to-day. The fiction of Sophus Michaelis (1865), as represented 
by his Dance of Death, is, like that of Jacobsen, mannered in 
style and burning with the love of beauty. Martin Andersen- 
Nexo (1869), a native of the rock-bound island of Bornholm, 
is being widely acclaimed for his social romance, Telle the 
Conqueror, now appearing in an English edition, being partly 
an autobiography of boyhood, partly a working-man's 
commentary on the rise of the labouring classes of the last 
generation in Copenhagen. 

Copenhagen has its royal theatre, with resident actors. 
The repertoire includes Holberg and Oehlenschlager, 
Shakespeare and Moliere. Here also dramas by modern 



98 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



playwrights sometimes appear on their " first nights." There 
are private playhouses in Copenhagen and in province towns. 

A few summers ago open-air theatres were 
Theatre instituted in the beech woods outside several 

of the larger cities, where "old-fashioned" 
tragedies of Oehlenschlager and romantic comedies by 
Drachmann are now played in the mellow glow of the long 
summer evenings. 

The modern Copenhagen audience demands a clever play, 
and the playwrights of the last generations have inclined 

toward social satire. Edvard Brandes (1847), 
Playwrights, the gifted brother of the critic, during an 

active career as editor and politician, has 
produced a series of bitterly radical comedies stinging with 
caustic wit. Otto Benzon (1856), a successful chemist, 
delights Copenhagen periodically by parodying public 
characters. In manufacturing laughter, however, Gustav 
Wied (1858) outdoes his contemporaries. In the homely 
quality of his humour, Wied is a Danish Dickens, representing 
the broad middle classes. He puts clowns and buffoons on 
the stage and fills their mouths with amusing retorts, pillorying 
especially whatever savours of cant or formalism. Other 
playwrights are the graceful and engaging Gustav Esmann 
(1860-1904) ; the paradoxical and ironical Sven Lange 
(1868), formerly editor of Simplicissitnus in Munich; and the 
sage and astute Helge Rode (1870). Two problem plays of 
Hjalmar Bergstrom (1868-1914) have been translated into 
English by Edwin Bjorkman : Karen Bomeman, dealing 
with the question of sex ; and Lyngaard and Company, a 
crossing of love between the battle lines of labour and capital. 
A versatile woman writer, Madame Emma Gad (1852), 

has recently published a comedy called The 

WriterT Gold Bird " Writin S of P o etry, politics, or 
potato salad, Madame Gad is equally inter- 
esting, not only to women, but to their brothers and 
husbands. 



Before and After Brandes 99 

Although all poets are born romanticists, Danish verse- 
makers have conscientiously endeavoured to apply the 

principles of realism prescribed by Brandes 
Poets. to their rhapsodies on social conditions and 

their near-scientific analyses of human 
passions. The verse of Niels Moller (1859) has a billowy 
rhythm and lofty tone that suggests English influence. 
Viggo Stuckenberg (1863-1905) was a pure lyricist, manful 
and classical. Johannes Jorgensen (1866), a Romanist 
himself, composes stanzas rich in religious symbolism, 
reminding one of the English poet Crashaw. The cantata 
and occasional poem are specialities of L. C. Nielsen (1871), 
who is a popular idol of the Danes in America, where he made 
an extensive lecture tour in 1914. Valdemar Rordam (1872) 
retains much of Drachmann's wealth of word and feeling ; 
he has written a patriotic verse cycle of the Prussian War 
of '64, and his metrical address to King Christian X at the 
time of his accession is familiar at Danish firesides. 

The subject of much of the verse, like the fiction, written 
of late, is peasant life. Frequently dialect is introduced. 

The farming folk of no country have found a 
Aakjaer. more sympathetic interpreter than Jeppe 

Aakjaer (1866), a poet and novelist, the 
bell-like singer of Jutland. 

In the world of criticism, Vilhelm Andersen (1864) has, 
through his University lectures and his essays, revealed his 

understanding of the personalities of authors 
Essayists. pas t and present. Harald Nielsen (1879) 

boldly discusses questions of the day in 
politics and letters — even the cult of Brandes — with 
unflinching analysis and unpartisan passion for the truth. 

The scholars of Denmark happily investigate history and 
language with minute, hair-splitting accuracy, combined 
with a remarkable degree of human sympathy. In his Daily 
Life in the North in the Sixteenth Century, Troels-Lund (1840) 
has constructed an intimate picture of domesticity. For his 



100 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



comparative linguistic studies, whether in Finnish or Russian, 
Turkish or Etruscan, Vilhelm Thomsen (1842) was decorated 

by King Frederik VIII, on his seventieth 
"Humanists." birthday, with the Order of the Elephant. 

Kristoffer Nyrop (1858), blind, dictating 
to secretaries, is writing a comprehensive history of the 
French language that savants in France have declared to 
be unexcelled. Otto Jespersen (1860) is, perhaps, the world's 
most famous living authority on the history and development 
of the English tongue. Axel Olrik (1864) is custodian of the 
old ballads and folk tales of his people, which he is documenting 
with a scholar's care and interpreting with a poet's intuition. 

Denmark's beloved philosopher, Professor Harald Hoffding 
(1843), well known to English readers, has striven rather to 

harmonise existing schools of thought than 
Hoffding. to develop a new and different system. To 

Hoffding, philosophy is concerned with warm, 
human problems, not merely with cold analyses. He builds 
on instinct and sympathy. In 1890 he came into sharp 
conflict with Brandes regarding the latter's support of 
Nietzsche and his theory about the superman. If the modern 
criticism contained in the essays of Georg Brandes can be 
charged with being unbalanced, fragmentary, and destructive, 
it can be said with equal truth of Hoffding' s system that it 
is synthetic and sane, an attempt on his part to build up, 
out of the babel of modern beliefs, a reasonable philosophy 
helpful to the average man. 

The Danish daily press issues a multiplicity of penny 
sheets presenting every political nuance, from the solid 

Conservatism of the Aarhus Gazette, the sane 
Newspapers, neutrality of the Flensborg News, and the 

more Liberal columns of Copenhagen papers 
like the National Times and Berlinske Tidende, to the red-hot 
Socialism of the Copenhagen Social Democrat. A very 
influential newspaper is Politiken, in Copenhagen, organ of 
Brandes and his followers, and the Radical Party in general. 



Before and After Brandes 101 

A picked staff of novelists, essayists, poets, and humorists, 
gives to its columns a spice and interest that is irresistible. 
Denmark has its sensational " yellow " journals, as heedless, 
newsy, personal, as their American prototypes, and often 
veneered with the " grin " of the Copenhagen cafes, sneering 
at things that are properly serious and sober. 

The leading monthly magazine, The Spectator, is edited 
by Poul Levin. Ugens Tilskuer (" Weekly Spectator "), 

published likewise in Copenhagen, is a 
Magazines. trenchant, unpartisan weekly, edited by 

Harald Nielsen. The Illustrated Times and 
The World and We, contain creditable pictorial reviews of 
the preceding week. The Danish Punch is called Klods 
Hans. There are hosts of other periodicals, including the 
invaluable journals of the learned societies. 

In reviewing contemporary Danish literature, it becomes 
apparent that the period of objective realism heralded by 

Brandes has, indeed, produced a galaxy of 
Conclusion. writers, but it cannot be said that its complete 

expression has yet been found in letters, but 
rather in the life and new institutions of Social Denmark. 
For masterpieces of imagination, one must look North , to 
Norway and Sweden. Of living Danish authors, apart from 
pure scholars, two figures alone stand out with international 
clearness : That of the purger and castigator, Georg Brandes, 
the critic ; and that of the gentle healer and builder, Harald 
Hoffding, the philosopher. 



CHAPTER IX 



DANISH ART AND ARCHITECTURE 

Unlike the literature, the history of painting in Scandinavia 
has no venerable past. There are, it is true, artistic survivals 
from the Middle Ages, such as churches, 
Painting. wood carvings, tapestries and mural decora- 
tions, and the museums are rich in finely 
chased vessels of gold from a remoter antiquity ; but there 
was no continuity of tradition to lead up to a national Northern 
school of plastic art. Northern painting was a perfunctory 
copying of foreign standards, until the first quarter of the 
last century, when Danish colourists at last succeeded in 
interpreting life in a distinctly Danish way. 

Great art generally combines two apparently conflicting 
factors : it makes an international appeal, and manifests at 
the same time a national bias. The great 
Schools 1 painters of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden 
are those who have succeeded in giving 
expression in each country to the national temperament. 
Broadly speaking, the art of all three lands, taken together, 
is characterised by a freshness and sincerity that needs no 
apology for its engaging provincialism. More narrowly 
considered, each of the three Scandinavian groups is sharply 
defined by its national peculiarities. Norwegian art is rugged 
and ruthlessly introspective, whether the subject be a mountain 
or a human face ; Swedish painting expresses a fondness for 
landscape and for high but harmonious colouring, pulsating 
with the joy of life ; while the pictures of the Danish school 
are characterised by figure compositions, often humorous, 
and by an absence of high colour. 

The Danish School began with Eckersberg (1783-1853), 
who painted directly from nature, and drew his inspiration 

102 



Danish Art and Architecture 103 



from the home soil. He was a nature painter of the good old 
days when naturalism was a prophecy of photography, when 
the last petal that fell from the wild flower 
Eckersberg. into the grass was painted with tender solici- 
tude. Though Eckersberg's mastery of 
his artistic materials covered the range of Danish life, he 
excelled in marine painting, and the people dearly love to 
gaze at his schooners sailing through the quiet Sound past 
Hamlet's Castle to English seas. 

Eckersberg was also a teacher, and counted among his 
pupils Kobke (1810-48) of portrait fame, and Vilhelm 
Marstrand (1810-73), the Danish Hogarth. 
Marstrand. Marstrand' s satires of the merchant life of 
Copenhagen were tempered by his genial 
Danish humour. He was a popular idol, who occupied much 
the same affectionate place in current notions of pictorial 
art as Hans Christian Andersen in literature. His facile 
draughtsmanship made his lightly conceived sketches, several 
thousand of which are scattered about Denmark, more nearly 
perfect than his large finished compositions in the Royal 
Gallery. His chief contemporary was Constantin Hansen 
(1804-80), a painter of genius, not only in portraiture and 
genre, but also in large fresco decorations, like that in the 
aula of the University of Copenhagen. 

From these beginnings, Danish art continued to be a ' 'home- 
spun " product. At a time when Swedish or Norwegian 
painters were studying abroad at Diisseldorf, 
Pinters anc * reve l^ n S * n the extravagances of roman- 
ticism, the Danes were spending their youth 
in Italy, or staying at home. Four great genre painters 
were placidly picturing peasant life in their own faithfully 
realistic, if provincial, way. Sonne, a better dreamer than a 
draughtsman, who painted the crippled, on mid-summer eve, 
seeking relief at Saint Helene's spring ; Vermehren, who 
depicted the calm and peace of Danish country life — the lone 
shepherd on the heath, patiently knitting his stockings while 

8— (2384) 



104 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



he tends his sheep ; Dalsgaard, reared on a country estate 
among the farmers of Jutland, on whose soul was etched 
the tragedy of rural life — the auction sale, the parting, the 
undertaker ; and lastly, Exner, ever quick to catch the 
popular eye, to whom country life seems a succession of 
smiling holidays. However emotional these peasant scenes 
may be at times, there is an underlying realism, matter-of- 
factness, and saving sense of humour about most of them 
that is typically Danish. 

Taken together in the Royal Gallery, the genre paintings 
of these four last artists constitute a permanent pictorial 

record of that rural Denmark, now vanishing, 
CoUwtions* before the days of co-operation in agriculture 

and captains of industry. In the Royal 
Gallery, too, Danish landscape, apart from figure painting, 
may best be studied in the work of Lundbye, Kyhn, and the 
elder Skovgaard. Here, also, the Eckersberg marine tradition 
has been carried on by Melbye. In the historical subjects of 
Frolich, Bloch, and Bache, however, one observes the 
beginnings of new colouring, of foreign influence, of French 
drawing. 

To see the work of these painters of history to advantage, 
one should make an hour's journey from Copenhagen to the 

old castle of Frederiksborg, containing the his- 
Jacobsens torical museum established by J. C. Jacobsen, 

who was mentioned, under " Captains of 
Industry," as the public-spirited owner of the Carlsberg 
breweries. His son, the late Carl Jacobsen, carried on the 
family tradition of Danish Maecenas by endowing in Copen- 
hagen a gallery of sculpture called the New Carlsberg Glypto- 
thek, which contains one of the finest collections of modern 
statuary in Europe. The same benefactor has munificently 
adorned the parks and highways of Copenhagen with works 
in bronze, and improved the sky-line of the city by restoring 
fallen towers. In Copenhagen, also, a special museum is 
devoted to the sculptures of Thorvaldsen, and Rosenberg 



Danish Art and Architecture 105 



Castle is a priceless treasure-house of old Danish portraits, 
furnishings, jewellery, and royal vestments. It is these 
permanent collections, and others like them, that have 
earned Copenhagen the appellation of " The Paris of the 
North" 

Since the Royal Academy of Arts was founded, in 1754, 
the Copenhagen public have been wont to visit the spring 
and autumn exhibitions in Charlottenborg 
Exhibitions. Palace, to form their estimate of current 
art. Since 1891, however, Charlottenborg 
has been supplemented by the Free Exhibit, established by 
a group of revolting artists, where, among work of a more 
conservative nature, the latest experiments of the cubists 
and futurists and other forms of advanced or " post-" 
impressionism are now tried out. 

Since 1880 the foreign influence has perceptibly increased, 
and Danish art has become more international. The younger 
artists later flocked to Paris to study impres- 

In and S post Sm s * on * sm > an< ^ were quick to seize upon the 
Impressionism, experiments of the post-impressionists, while 
the more conservative men have gone to 
Italy, as the habit was for Danish artists of earlier days, to 
commune with the great masters of the Renaissance. Most 
of them, however, preserve the Danish national character, 
either in their fondness for genre or in the subdued tones of 
their colouring. If some of the more radical among them 
appear over-cosmopolitan, they are, in fact, faithful to the 
changing character of that modern city of international 
congresses, Copenhagen. 

One of the first Danish painters who took home ideas of 
French impressionism was Theodor Philipsen (1840), now 
highly appreciated as a landscape and animal 
Philipsen. painter. His splendid pictures, with motives 
from small islands, had a bright and blazing 
colouring, and a new, high, and scintillant tone which was 
his own. 



106 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Among the painters of to-day, however, it need cause no 
surprise to find a few still clinging to the old- 
C °Sers ary fashioned fig^e traditions. Lauritz Andersen 
Ring (1854) for example, is a spiritual 
descendant of Eckersberg. Born of humble cottagers, he 
lives and paints undisturbed in his rustic 
Ring. vine-covered home near Roskilde. With less 
appeal to sentiment than that made by his 
predecessors, Dalsgaard or Exner, he manifests the same 
fineness of stroke, painstaking truth, or predilection for 
narrative in paintings like " The Postman's Visit/' 

Even as France has her Barbizon, so Denmark has her 
Skagen. A colony of genre painters has pursued retreating 
primitive types to the fishing settlement and 
Th Cofon^ en lif e - sav i n g station of Skagen, situated on the 
northernmost tip of Denmark. It is a long 
horn of land heaped high with sand dunes, ending in a tapering 
finger of beach that separates the Baltic from the North 
Sea. 

Young painters discovered this retreat before the tourists 
made Skagen a summer resort. For two generations they 

left their sketches hanging on the wall of 
Richer Brondum's Inn, and their portraits in the 

panel frieze in the old dining-room. In this 
artistic environment the innkeeper's daughter, Anna Brondum 
(1859), grew up and became a painter. When she was sixteen, 
her sponsors sent her to study at Copenhagen, where she 
was quick to win recognition. In 1880 she married her 
teacher and fellow painter, Michael Ancher, and returned 
with him to take up their residence in a red-tiled cottage 
not far from her father's roof. Her husband chose his 
subjects from the open air, but Anna Ancher prefers 
quiet interiors, usually flooded with sunshine through the 
window, and has a predilection for the old wives of the 
fishing village. All her portraits bear the stamp of utter 
truth. 



Danish Art and Architecture 107 



Her husband, Michael Ancher (1849), has added a new 
chapter to Danish art. A goodly number of his canvases 

acquired by the Royal Gallery form a reliable 
Ancher! record of the stern and picturesque fishing 

life that the coming of steam and motor-boats 
is making past history. Subjects realistically conceived, 
like " Fishermen in the Evening Sun," and " Bringing the 
Shipwrecked Ashore," show that Ancher has espoused the 
cause of modern naturalism and paints in the open air with 
a bold stroke, imparting a strength and directness of 
features to his fishermen that sometimes recalls the work of 
Rembrandt. 

Another member of the Skagen Colony is Carl Locher 
(1851), a marine painter, following Eckersberg and Melbye 
from afar, who paints the very sea, rather 
Locher, than the old " salt/' and the schooner riding 
before the storm. As recently as the summer 
of 1913 he exhibited at Skagen together with the Anchers. 

The doyen of Skagen painters, however, was the late Peter 
Severin Kroyer (1851-1909). He returned to Denmark in 
1881, after four years abroad, aglow with the 
Kroyer. open-air tenets of impressionism, and was 
persuaded by Michael Ancher to take up his 
permanent abode at Skagen, beside the sparkling beaches, 
where he carried out the new play-of-sunlight doctrines of 
Manet and Monet. In his brush-work, Kroyer was the 
Danish exemplar of pure impressionism. 

For Kroyer light was the all in all, whether it came from 
golden sun, or silver moon, or yellow candle-light. He 
luxuriated in the glory of the sun on sand 

L^h^and anc * sea * n P a ^ nt ^ n S s ^ e " Fishermen Waiting 
shade? on the Strand/' in the Royal Gallery, or 
" Bathing Boys/' in private possession at 
Budapest. He dreamed beneath the silver moonlight in the 
painting, " My Wife," now in the Glyptothek, an iridescent 
study of the artist's wife, dressed in pure white, her dog by 



108 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



her side on the strand by the water's edge, both looking 
seaward in the path of the moon. Again, he would master 
an interior, shedding the yellow gleam of candles over the 
gray heads and distinguished features of fifty Danish 
scholars in his memorable " Meeting of the Scientific 
Society." 

Kroyer's portraits of prominent Scandinavians show a 
luminous delineation of character, and his figures an easy 
grace of attitude. His favourite subject, apparently, which 
he several times repeated, was Holger Drachmann, the 
striking blond poet, his friend and fellow colonist at Skagen. 

Of all Danish painters of his generation, Kroyer was the 
one best known abroad, because he could interpret Danish 
life with that play of sunlight and shadow which was appre- 
ciated over Europe. His dwelling at Skagen has been 
converted into a Kroyer Museum. 

Another Skagen painter who displays decided firmness of 
drawing and perspective is Laurits Tuxen (1853). Tuxen 
has executed some splendid marines, the 
Tuxen. one most frequently copied being the thrilling 
struggle of oars and waves, entitled, " The 
Lifeboat Goes Out." His portraits, also, have won him favour 
with crowned heads. At his home in Skagen he has been 
honoured by Grand Dukes and dignitaries, even the Queen 
Alexandra. In England, of all living Danish artists Tuxen 
meets with most response. 

His historical paintings of Royal weddings in the reign of 
Victoria and after (large canvases, full of 
England mediaeval pomp and rich colouring), include 
three scenes in Buckingham Palace from the 
coronation of King Edward VII. 

Another Danish painter, not of Skagen, who, like Kroyer 
and Tuxen, gives to his sitters an air of 
Poulsen. courtly elegance, is Julius Poulsen (1860). 

His landscapes also display a sureness of 
touch as well as a tender suggestiveness. 



-4, 



Danish Art and Architecture 109 

Equally skilful as draughtsman and colourist is the gifted 
Viggo Johannsen (1851), now director of the Royal Academy 

of Arts, who has shown especial aptitude for 
Johannsen. bright evening interiors, with candle lights 

and drinking glasses and glad company, or, 
even better, interiors of his own home, with wife and children 
gathered for reading, work, or play. 

The most subjective colourist of modern Danish art is 
Kristian Zahrtmann (1843), a native of the rugged island 

of Bornholm, out in the Baltic. When he 
Zahrtmann. fi rs t exhibited, in 1869, the art of the nation 

was singularly plain and homespun, with 
suppression of colour and sobriety of tint. Following his 
own bent and earnestly desiring to stimulate his country's 
art, Zahrtmann became aggressively high-keyed, revelled in 
lilac atmospheres, insisted on " seeing things purple," sub- 
jected himself to ridicule, and eventually won the day. 
While developing this colour sense, he lived many summers 
among Italian peasants in the mountain town of Civita 
d'Antino, in Southern Italy, where he has been made an 
honorary citizen. 

Zahrtmann' s name is popularly associated with his series of 
historical paintings depicting the sorrows of Leonora Christina, 
daughter of King Christian IV, who was long imprisoned in 
the Blue Tower of Copenhagen in the seventeenth century. 
Zahrtmann is the ardent champion of her memory. His 
Leonora, however, is no charming Aphrodite. Although he 
prodigally envelops his subjects in purple haze, he is sparing 
of feminine charms. Plain features only seem to inspire 
him to try the harder to bring to the surface lovable soul 
qualities. For 24 years Zahrtmann was at the head of an 
Art School in Copenhagen, supported in part by the State, 
and attended not only by Danish students but by many young 
artists from abroad, especially Norwegians, who, later, went on 
to the Continent. Any visitor to his studio to-day will still be 
impressed by the vigour of Zahrtmann's majestic personality. 



110 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Three pupils of Zahrtmann, natives of the idyllic island of 
Fyn — Johannes Larsen, Fritz Syberg, and Peter Hansen — 
form the nucleus of " The Fyn School/' with 
"sdiooT 1 their colouristic interpretations of rural acres 
and the glories of the Great Belt, notably 

its bird life. 

The plain air principles adopted by Kroyer and his friends 
in the '80' s had no sooner received recognition at home than 

the younger men, who, like them, studied in 
The New Paris, were imbued with the modern spirit 
School. of revolt from scientific objectivity and 

actuated by a desire to indicate subtler 
psychological processes, and to discover new ways of applying 
paint. In recent years Copenhagen exhibitions have pre- 
sented a nondescript array of puzzling paintings, for the 
most part experiments in portraiture, and street and city 
scenes, which afford an amusing contrast to the quiet pictures 
of peasant life familiar a generation ago. Among the most 
promising of these younger explorers into new art realms may 
be named Harald Giersing, Axel Jorgensen, Viggo Madsen, 
Karl Schou, Sigurd Swane, and Edvard Weihe. The director 
of the Royal Gallery, Mr. Karl Madsen, who is well grounded 
in classical and historical methods, despite the conservative 
nature of his official position, smiles sympathetically upon 
these efforts to evolve a new Danish national art, based on 
advanced modern principles. 

The arch-spirit of Copenhagen radicals, Jens Ferdinand 
Willumsen, is a post-impressionist by adoption, for he was 

born in 1863, and served his apprenticeship 
Willumsen. a t the Royal Academy, and studied for a 

time under Kroyer. For more than a decade, 
however, he resided in Paris, and returned a revolutionary, 
dissatisfied with fixed ideals, ever striving for new forms of 
artistic expression. In 1891 he joined the " Free Exhibit/ 
The titles of three of his paintings will illustrate the resources 
of Willumsen's imagination. His symbolic " Mountain 



Danish Art and Architecture 111 



Climber " in Hagemann's College is an ably massed com- 
position, representing an athletic woman in white sweater, 
pausing, leaning on a staff, high in the mountains, deep 
valleys behind her, peaks of opportunity ahead. Again, the 
" Mother's Dream " shows two nude boys swirled in a cloud 
through the deep blue starlit firmament, casting kisses down, 
presumably to a sorrowing mother. His enormous canvas — 
exhibited in 1912-13, in America — " Youth and Sunshine," 
pictures a group of children, clothed only by nature, rushing 
down the beach into the surf ; compared to Kroyer's treat- 
ment of the same subject, mentioned above, the daring 
purples and yellows of Willumsen's waves seem, to con- 
servative minds, strident and glaring, but one must admit 
the dexterously painted dazzle of the sun, and the vigour 
and bold abandon of treatment. 

Standing aloof from Willumsen and other moderns are 
three individualists, who draw their inspiration from times 
more remote — Hammershoi, Nielsen, and 

Hammershoi. Skovgaard. Vilhelm Hammershoi (1864) 
expresses the urbane satisfaction of the 
Danish mind in unpretentious situations. His interiors are 
subdued monochromatics. The painting " Sunbeams " is 
a scientific study in gray tones of dust particles dancing 
inside a window. " Open Doors," again, reveals a bare 
floor, an untenanted room, but a space filled with atmosphere 
and tremulous shadows. As delicate and personal as vases 
of Royal Copenhagen, his unique little panels won for 
Hammershoi the Grand Prize in Rome at the International 
Exhibition of 1911. 

More sombre are the gradations of gray, sometimes almost 
a-colouristic, that characterise the pathetic and appealing 
portraits of Einar Nielsen (1872). His spirit 
Nielsen. i s melancholy and delicately sympathetic 
with suffering. Pictures like " The Blind 
Girl " and " Evening Bells " — the latter in sentiment similar 
to Millet's " Angelus," a group of toil-worn peasants pausing 



112 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



momentarily from work in reverent listening — are naive 
compositions, reminiscent of the Italian primitives. In their 
exquisite detail and fine brush stroke they contrast sharply 
with the hasty generalizations of the later radicals. 

The two most impressive monuments of modern Danish 
art are the new Town Hall of Copenhagen, described below, 
and the mural frescoes executed in Viborg 
Skovgaard. Cathedral, in Jutland, by Denmark's religious 
painter, Joachim Skovgaard (1856). Skov- 
gaard comes of an artist family ; P. C. T. Skovgaard, the 
landscapist, was his father ; his sister, Susette, is also an 
artist ; while his brother, Niels, ranks as a religious painter 
second only to Joachim himself. In 1890 the Parliament 
of Denmark commissioned Skovgaard to restore the interior 
of Viborg Cathedral. With few assistants, he went to work, 
and in five years completed the colossal task of covering the 
irregular walls and spaces with fresco, including nearly 500 
human figures of life-size or larger. 

It is surprising to record that, in October, 1906, Skovgaard 
returned to the State 19,580 kroner and 99 ore of the 120,000 
kroner appropriated by the Government. The entire work 
had cost less than the price paid by France for a single 
painting by Raphael or Leonardo. 

Skovgaard' s frescoes cover the range of sacred story from 
the Garden of Eden to the Day of Pentecost. To best 
advantage they are seen during a summer 

VibJ/rCathedral. ves P er service > when the setting sun floods 
' the Cathedral with a golden splendour, 
illuminating the throned and glorified Christ above the altar. 
The walls are a blaze of colour, each separate niche tempting 
the beholder to read its pictured legend. The frescoes are 
done in formal style, without perspective, following the 
traditional laws of decorative art drawing, quaint and stiff, 
two trees seeming to indicate a forest ; yet the figures are 
instinct with a graceful movement and life peculiar to 
Skovgaard. His treatment of the Christ's descent into hell 



Danish Art and Architecture 113 



is influenced by Grundtvig, the Danish theologian. The 
charming scene in Eden, where the youthful Adam names 
the animals fawning about him, is Skovgaard' s own creation. 
As for the 500 citizens of Palestine who enact the Bible story 
on Viborg's walls, they are partly children of staid ecclesiastical 
tradition, but none the less they are Danish in human sym- 
pathy and chastity of features and litheness of limb. This mural 
work could never have been produced outside of Denmark. 

Reverence and seriousness, profound but optimistic, 
pervade every line of Skovgaard's masterful work. His 
frescoes are probably unsurpassed North of the Alps for their 
combined sincerity and artistry of religious feeling ; they 
are the most monumental painting Denmark has yet produced. 
One may safely predict that some day, when Kroyer's sunlight 
paintings are at best only a happy memory, and Willumsen's 
experiments have been relegated to historical limbo, the 
religious paintings of Joachim Skovgaard will have lost 
nothing in the estimation and regard of the Danish people. 

In executing the design for the stained glass windows at 
Viborg, Skovgaard had as collaborator Thorvald Bindesboll 

(1846-1909), who assisted him also in design- 
Bindesboll. j n g the famous bear fountain for Copenhagen's 

new Town Hall. Bindesboll was prince of 
Danish decorators, striving, like Ruskin, to beautify ever the 
commonplace. His adaptations of the Romanesque, Baroque, 
and Chinese, combined with his original fancy, pervade the 
domestic life of Denmark, in cottage architecture, in furniture 
and silverware, embroidery and picture-frames, in vases 
and the tooling of books. 

The artist craftsman's ideal, which inspired Bindesboll, 
has also attracted the painters Skovgaard, Willumsen, and 

the two lovers of sunlight and portraiture 
^Mdlfers*" w ^ ' ^ e Anchers at Skagen, have joined 

forces in matrimony: Harald Slott-Moller 
(1864), who is a skilful goldsmith and decorator of pottery ; 
Agnes, his wife, who has achieved a masterpiece in the quaint 



114 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



relief of the old ballad theme of Queen Dagmar's death, made 
for the Folk High School of Askov, in Jutland. 

In artistic book-making the Danes have won international 
renown, due in large measure to the influence of the Danish 

Society for Promoting Book-work, of which 
Hendriksen. Frederik Hendriksen (1847) is the President, 

and through whom a training school has been 
established for bookbinders and printers. 

Hendriksen has organised collections of Danish prints for 
several international exhibitions. He has produced large 

volumes on Skovgaard's frescoes at Viborg 
A Illi^^ators nd anc * Nyrop's new Town Hall. Among recent 

Danish illustrators of the ancient sagas, 
Holberg's Comedies, and Andersen's Fairy Tales, may be 
mentioned Bindesboll, Skovgaard, Jerndorff, Hans Nicolai 
Hansen, Hans Tegner, and especially the late Lorenz Frolich. 

After Andersen's well-known Fairy Tales, the most effective 
advertisement for Denmark in foreign lands is the Royal 

Copenhagen Porcelain. These precious pieces 
Royal f c hi na> ^th their blue-and-white mussel- 
Porcelain, shell pattern, and the trade-mark of the 

" three waves," designating the three belts 
of water which separate the four former divisions of Denmark, 
are found in corners of the globe where the Danish flag has 
never been raised, and often are treasured almost like sacred 
vessels. Under the artistic guidance of Arnold Krog, each 
piece is painted by hand unglazed. After glazing, it is 
baked in an oven heated to a higher temperature than is 
any other pottery ; consequently, it is as hard and ringing as 
metal, and blinding white. The familiar blue mussel-shell 
decorative pattern earns the porcelain its daily bread, while 
reckless sums are expended in vases, porcelain animals, and 
bric-a-brac expressly painted by artists. The late Princess 
Marie designed a hippopotamus. A recent magnum opus of 
Royal Copenhagen is the imposing fountain executed in 
1914 for the Peace Palace at The Hague. 



Danish Art and Architecture 115 



Denmark produces other forms of the ceramic arts, such 
as the Bing and Grondal porcelain, which at one time was 
under the artistic guidance of F. W. Willumsen 

Silverware** anc * now ^ as -^ ans Tegner as designer. Bing 
and Grondal stoneware also is highly 
estimated in France and Germany. Articles of lesser luxury, 
but lovely in their own ways, are the potteries of Aluminia 
Faience — connected with the Royal Copenhagen manufac- 
ture — and the Kahler Ware, an earthenware modelled at 
Naestved by Martin Kahler and his son, in rich colours and 
fantastic but pleasing shapes. As companion pieces to the 
Royal Porcelain might be mentioned the vessels of silver 
executed by A. Michelsen, the Court goldsmith, from the 
designs of Harald Slott-Moller, and notably also of Thorvald 
Bindesboll. 

The most distinguished of all names in the plastic arts of 
Denmark is that of the sculptor Bert el Thorvaldsen (1770- 
1844), Eckersberg's contemporary. His father 

Thorvaldsen. was an Icelander. Though fashions in art 
have changed, he remains to-day the greatest 
sculptor of Europe from the first half of the nineteenth 
century. The subjects of this neo-classicist, derived from 
Greek mythology and the Bible, seem at first sight foreign to 
the land of Thor and the saga. Is Thorvaldsen not merely 
a modern Hellene accidentally born in Copenhagen ? On 
closer scrutiny, however, it will be seen that there is some- 
thing in common between the chaste restraint of Icelandic 
culture and that of ancient Greece, while Thorvaldsen's 
figures display a certain shyness and delicacy that is typically 
Danish. 

Among other well-known sculptors of the last century are 
Freund, the elder Bissen, and Jerichau ; more recent modellers 
are the younger Bissen, Rohl-Smith — whose 
Contemporary begt WQrk inc i U( iing the giant statue of 
Sculptors. ' j • a 

General Sherman, was done in America — 

Brandstrup, Aarsleff, A. Bundegaard — designer of the Gefion 



116 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Fountain, near the harbour of Copenhagen ; Bonnesen, Marie 
Carl Nielsen, Viggo Jarl, and Kai Nielsen, all of whom are 
highly gifted sculptors in modern style. 

Thorvaldsen's mantle, however, appears to have fallen 
upon Einar Jonsson (1874), who, like Thorvaldsen's father, 

is a native of Iceland. His work is highly 
J6nsson mystical and allegorical ; always personal 

and original. There seems to be more 
" ur-Germanic " in the ambitious but rhythmical surfaces of 
this son of Iceland than in the neo-classicism of Thorvaldsen. 
One of his most striking designs is called " Dawn," and shows 
a maiden in the clutches of a huge mountain trold, who is 
being turned into stone by the rays of the rising sun. His 
native Iceland has acquired his chief works for a national 
collection. 

In Norway and Sweden the prevailing building material is 
wood hewn in native forests, while in Denmark the farm- 
houses are usually constructed of brick, 
Architecture, sometimes coated with plaster, and roofed 
over with thatch or with red tiles. The 
most picturesque cottages, particularly on the island of Fyn, 
are made of " binding work/' consisting of intersecting beams 
of wood filled in with brick. The gables of the larger farm- 
houses and country churches present often the peculiar step 
structure common to the Low Countries. Storks build in 
the towers. The architectural features in a Danish landscape, 
therefore, are, like the physical aspects of the country, in 
striking contrast to Norway and Sweden. 

Each of the diocesan seats in Denmark has its cathedral. 
The cathedrals of Ribe and Viborg are Romanesque structures 
built of stone in the midst of rural com- 
Cathedrals. munities in the twelfth century ; those at 
trading centres, Odense and Aarhus, are 
imitations of Gothic, erected of brick in the thirteenth century. 
Roskilde combines the two. Of all Danish churches, Ribe 
Cathedral, with its haphazard combination of stone and 



Danish Art and Architecture 117 



brick, towering above a quaint and well-preserved mediaeval 
town, is decidedly the most picturesque. At Roskilde, 
where the Kings lie buried, centres the greatest historical 
interest. The abbey churches of Ringsted and Soro, the 
cylinder church of Bjernede, and the basilica of Kallundborg, 
with its five towers, are likewise noteworthy. 

The countryside abounds in modest feudal castles and 
manor halls. Their wings and towers, vine-covered and 

reflected in placid moats and lakes surrounded 
M palaces nd b ^ smilin & gardens, date from the fourteenth 

century to the present time. They are far 
from the railroads, and their very existence is usually unsus- 
pected by the tourist. In the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries, during the reign of Frederick II, and especially of 
Christian IV, " the architect-king/' palaces were erected in 
a style adapted from the Dutch Renaissance, stately, and at 
the same time rich in detail and beautifully situated. To 
name a few of them : the Castle of Fredriksborg is built on 
an island in a wood-girt lake ; Rosenborg Castle rises above 
the King's pleasure garden at Copenhagen ; the Bourse, in 
Copenhagen, is a palace beside the canal ; Kronborg, " Hamlet's 
Castle," faces the distant Swedish coast at " Elsinore." 

Contemporary Danish architecture has, however, produced 
at least one building that is worthy of comparison with any 

erected in the past. The New Town Hall of 
Martin Copenhagen, completed in 1903, is the creation 
' " of the architect Martin Nyrop (1849). Built 
of brick and sandstone, its general plan, and particularly the 
clock tower, are reminiscent of communal palaces in Italy, 
but Nyrop has assembled features from every conceivable 
kind of Danish mediaeval structure, which he has combined 
in his own original way, so that one can almost say of Copen- 
hagen's Town Hall as of a popular ballad : " It is not the 
work of an artist ; the people made it." The recurring 
surprises in its corridors and courtyard, the mosaics in the 
great hall, the bas-reliefs over the doorways, the variation 



118 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



of wig^low ^cagements, the statued niches, the copper and 
gilded ornaments cm the outer wall, gleaming in the sun, 
merit a long scrutiny. All these details, evincing imagination 
and caprice, are brought into perfect, quiet harmony, and 
a unity of the whole. 

Another pioneer in modern Danish architecture is Hack 
Kampmann (1856), for many years Royal Building Inspector 
of Jutland, who has beautified the towns of 
Kampmann. that peninsula with new public buildings and 
apartment houses, built of red or yellow 
brick, decoratively treated. 

On the shores of the Bay south of the city of Aarhus, as 
well as beside the Sound, for 50 miles north from Copenhagen, 
are being erected every year groups of summer 
Colonfes villas in brick, plaster, and cement, that 
reflect the spirit of decorative caprice fostered 
by the young architects of Denmark. Now an iron ornament 
breaks the wall surface, now a drooping eave, now an oddly 
shaped window. It is doubtful if any land can exhibit villa 
colonies of more marked individuality, representing a mini- 
mum of expense and a maximum of variety and relief from 
monotony in domestic architecture. 

The Danes are fond of music, and the home, however 
humble, usually has some sort of musical instrument. 

Although the nation has not produced 
Music. composers of world renown, song writers 
like Hartmann, Gade, Heise, and Lange- 
Miiller have given the Danish people a repertoire of melodies 
of delicate lyrical power. An orchestral overture of Carl 
Nielsen (1865), " Helois," was successfully performed in New 
York, at Carnegie Hall, in 1913. The populace of Copenhagen 
can hear good orchestras at low prices. Foreign operas are 
rendered in Danish at the Royal Theatre. 

The Royal Theatre houses another art as intimately Danish 
as Royal Porcelain or Hammershoi's panels. The Royal 
Danish Ballet, which is associated with the name of its director 



Danish Art and Architecture 119 

and composer, Bournonville, is an opera without words, a 
drama in pantomime, enacted often by upwards of a hundred 

dancers, trained and educated by the State. 
Ballet Pallet is more restrained and classical, 

less given to sensational solo parts, than 
the Russian ballets. In recent years several of the 
star dancers, like Adeline Genee — who, however, was in 
Denmark only as a child, — have been prevailed upon to 
leave Copenhagen and enact solo parts in Great Britain, 
America, and Australia. 

In general, the Danish people have an exquisite perception 
of the beautiful in all manifestations of art. Sometimes this 

may appear inconsistent with their seeming 
Connoisseurs, indifference to matters of dress, personal 

appearance, and the interior decoration of 
their homes — a heedlessness of form. Art, to the Dane, is 
subjective and spiritual. 



9— (2384) 



PART II— NORWAY 



CHAPTER X 

A NEW NATION 

Norway in physical features resembles Denmark as little 
as do snow-capped mountains a sunny plain. It is one 

of the amazing facts of history that the 
and U piain high-spirited people of fjeld and fjord, after 

an heroic past of their own, should have 
relapsed for four and a half centuries into a state of national 
listlessness and allowed their affairs and their language to be 
directed by the more urbane folk inhabiting the Danish isles. 

When Norway at length awoke to renewed national con- 
sciousness in 1814, it was only to exchange a union with 

Denmark for a union with Sweden. The 

o T u e 4.u Concert of Powers willed it thus. For near 
Ke-birtn. . 

a century both nations were ruled by the 
Bernadottes, and Norway's foreign affairs were governed 
by the stronger State in the dual alliance. In 1814, Norway 
did secure, however, a Constitution, framed by her represen- 
tatives at Eidsvold. From that year her poets began to sing 
of new liberties, and to recall the glorious deeds of the saga 
past. To the Norsemen of the first half of the nineteenth 
century it seemed that the land was suddenly re-born from 
the thirteenth, that Norway had been awakened from a long 
slumber, whereas, in reality, the nation had been but slowly 
re-fashioned with new blood and new ambitions during the 
course of the centuries. It took a long time for the people 
to realise that conditions had changed, that they could not 
live like their Viking forebears by farming and fishing, by 
poetry and heroic deeds. Little by little they came to 

121 



122 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



understand that new times demanded new occupations, new 
habits of mind, that the banker, the merchant, the manufac- 
turer, the engineer were entitled to as much respect as the 
poet and the farmer. More and more the Norwegians observed 
the ways of other nations. Even painters and poets forsook 
the fjords and studied in Paris. Meanwhile, there grew a 
desire for distinct consular representation abroad, for com- 
plete independence, for the opportunity to work out their 
own destiny as a separate people. 

At length, in 1905, by a peaceful separation from Sweden, 
Norway became politically a new nation. Among her 
citizens were those who believed that this 

Haakon VII. new nation was destined to become the 
most progressive of all lands, and ought, 
therefore, to take her place among the councils of the world 
as a republic. Four-fifths of them, however, felt that a 
monarchical form of government would meet with more 
favourable recognition from the sister nations and other 
Powers. The people were thrilled, also, with the dream of 
a King of their own whom other kings would respect, as they 
had respected Haakon the Old in the thirteenth century. 
Accordingly, Prince Carl of Denmark, brother of the present 
Danish King, was invited to rule over Norway. He took 
the throne with the title Haakon VII. For consummating 
this change in Government without strife, the people are 
grateful especially to their able statesman, Christian Michelsen, 
Minister of State during the crisis of 1905. 

Haakon VII speaks with a Norwegian accent and conforms 
his life to the simple ways of his adopted people. They 
recount with pride his democratic habits : 
Lif 1Vate k° w he once asked a small boy for a coast 
on the back of his sled ; how he rode a bicycle 
to the haberdasher's to buy a cravat. When the King 
attends the opening of the Storting, he drives from the 
castle almost as simply as a civilian, and the ceremonies 
contrast sharply with the elaborate pageants surrounding 



A New Nation 



123 



the opening of Parliament in less democratic lands. Further- 
more, the King's directness of speech, his frank utterances in 
conversation, have won respect in this nation of strong 
personal opinions. The fact that Queen Maud is an English 
Princess, the daughter of Queen Alexandra, redounds to the 
favour of the Royal Family, for Norway loves England. 
Their only son, Prince Olav, is being educated like other 
Norwegian sons. In winter he runs on skis. The Royal 
Family is provided with 700,000 kroner by the State. They 
maintain the Royal Castle in Christiania, a summer home 
on the island of Bygdo, a half-hour's drive from the city, 
and winter lodges in the mountains. 

The chief difference between the forms of government of 
Denmark and Norway lies in the fact that, while the Parlia- 
ment of the former has an Upper and a 
Stating Lower House, the Norwegian Storting consists 
of one chamber, whose members are elected 
every third year. When a new Storting convenes, its 
members group themselves for legislative purposes into two 
divisions, one-fourth of the members composing the Lagting, 
the remaining three-fourths the Odelsting. The King has 
the power to veto a Bill twice, after which it may be passed 
over his head by the Storting. 

Since 1913, every citizen over 25 years of age has the 
right to vote, with certain exceptions, regardless of sex. 

Norway was the first independent State to 
^yjjfc 611 grant women universal suffrage. One woman 
has occupied, for a time, a seat in the Storting, 
and women have received appointments in the State's 
service. 

In 1914, the members of the Storting were grouped, 
according to their political affiliations, into 20 Rights, 71 
Lefts, 4 Liberal Lefts, 5 Working-men 
Parties 1 Democrats, and 23 Socialists. So progressive 
is legislation in Norway that there is no 
Conservative Party in the sense in which the word is used in 



124 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



other countries. The Rights may be classed as Liberals, 
and the Lefts as Radicals. The Socialist Party has greatly 
increased in numbers in recent years, and its representation 
in the Storting has grown from seven members in 1903 to 
23 members in 1912. As a rule, factory workers, and also 
many of the fishermen, are Socialists. 

The administration of government is directed by nine 
departments. As in Denmark, there are eighteen counties, 

the governor of each being called an amtmand, 
Administration, while the city of Christiania constitutes a 

nineteenth civil district. The provinces are 
again sub-divided. In addition to these divisions controlled 
by the central Government, there are the local units of cities 
and communes which exercise a large degree of autonomy 
through councils elected by the voter. Parallel again with 
these districts, the country is carefully partitioned by the 
State Church, the military authorities, the bureaus of medical 
inspection, mines, and forests. Such a plan may seem to the 
uninitiated intricate and bureaucratic, but in actual practice 
there is very little overlapping, and the whole machinery of 
government, although over deliberate, moves with efficiency 
and precision. 

Lutheranism, as in the other Northern countries, is the 
religion of the State. There are six bishoprics, 84 deaneries, 
498 livings, and 978 parishes. In many 
Religion. remote parishes it is necessary to travel 
from 30 to 60 miles to attend church. Nor- 
wegians often complain that their country is more " church 
ridden " than any other land, and that a State Church is not 
consistent with the progressive tendency of the nation. It 
is not improbable that before many years have elapsed the 
church will be partially disestablished. 

Of all the inhabitants of the country, one person out of 
every ten lives in Christiania, the capital city, the population 
of which was, in 1914, 255,000. In Christiania are domiciled 
the chief museums and Government buildings, and the 



A New Nation 



125 



University, founded in 1811. Bergen, the old seaport on the 
west coast, ranked second in size, with a population of 80,000. 

Trondhjem, in the north, with its ancient 
Cities Cathedral and new Institute of Technology, 

had a population of 48,000 ; Stavanger 38,000, 
and Drammen 25,000. The entire population of Norway 
was estimated at 2,400,000, being slightly less than that of 
Denmark and not half that of Sweden. 

Norway is a frugal but no longer an impecunious country. 
Paper money is issued by the Bank of Norway, an institution 

partly private and partly under Government 
Banking. control. When this bank was founded, in 

1816, it was difficult for Norway to borrow 
money abroad. The Government raised the necessary 
capital by levying a tax upon property and incomes, and, 
owing to the paucity of currency, the tax was paid in many 
cases in old family plate, which was reluctantly consigned to 
the melting pot. Now times have improved, and the Bank 
has been able to pay its stockholders average dividends of 
9 per cent. Another important factor in the economic life 
of the nation is the so-called Mortgage Bank of Norway. 
There are joint-stock banks also in the principal towns, one 
of the most important being the Centralbanken for Norge, in 
Christiania. Savings banks, likewise, are in good condition, 
and their deposits and capital have increased from 7,000,000 
kroner in 1840 to 570,000,000 kroner in 1910. Norway was 
the last of the Northern nations to abandon the shilling as 
a unit of value. In 1875 a convention was signed with 
Denmark and Sweden whereby the krone was adopted as 
standard, being equal in value to 100 ore. 

According to estimates approved by the eminent statistician, 
Professor Bredo von Munthe av Morgenstierne, Rector or 

President of the University of Christiania, the 

Pr0 Income and assembled wealth of the land > in 191 1 > 
amounted to 3,600 million kroner, or 1,500 

kroner as the average property value pertaining to each 



126 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



individual. In Sweden the average was 2,500 kroner per 
inhabitant ; in Denmark the individual's share of prosperity 
was still greater — affording an interesting commentary on 
the charge sometimes made that the Norwegian is frugal, the 
Swede extravagant, and the Dane parsimonious. The 
average income in 1909 was estimated at only 381 kroner for 
Norwegians, as compared with 735 kroner in Great Britain 
and Ireland, and 1,165 kroner in the United States. It must, 
of course, be borne in mind that the cost of living is lower in 
Norway than in the latter countries. Norwegians whose 
income was under 600 kroner were estimated to comprise no 
less than 83*3 per cent, of the population, while only two- 
tenths of 1 per cent, enjoyed incomes greater than 10,000 
kroner. Two hundred thousand persons, or 8 per cent, of 
the inhabitants, were recipients of public alms — a greater 
number in proportion to the population than was recorded 
by any other nation, a fact which may indicate not that 
more are in need in Norway, but that Norway takes better 
care of her poor. 

The National Debt amounted, in 1911, to 367,700,000 
kroner, which is relatively higher than that of the neighbouring 
lands, but lower than that of other European 

The D ^ t t ional countries; 153 kroner per inhabitant, as 
compared with 300 kroner in Great Britain 
and Ireland. Against this indebtedness, the Government 
has sufficient assets in its railroads, bank securities, public 
buildings, and properties. All but a small fraction of the 
national loans are placed in foreign countries. When the 
usual European markets were closed by the War of 1914, the 
Government sent out a fiscal commission to the United 
States, where they experienced little difficulty in arranging 
a loan of 3,000,000 dollars through the National City Bank 
of New York, based upon Norway's well established 
credit. 

In 1910-11, the chief receipts of the Norwegian State 
were as follows — 



A New Nation 



127 



Taxes 

Kroner. 

Income and Property . 7,974,000 
Customs and Shipping 50,967,000 
Gin. . . . 2,083,000 
Malt . . . 3,222,000 
Stamped Paper and 

Playing Cards . 2,013,000 
Inheritance . . 1,596,000 
Fees and Other Taxes . 1 ,523,000 



69,378,000 



Surplus from National 
Enterprises 



Railroads 
Post Office 

Telegraph and Tele- 
phone . 

Forests 

Silver Mines 

Coinage . 

Bank of Norway 

Mortgage Bank 

Interest on Cash, De- 
posits and Invest- 
ments . 

Various Funds . 



Kroner. 
2,417,000 
867,000 

223,000 
267,000 
237,000 
292,000 
378,000 
724,000 



4,110,000 
2,268,000 



11,345,000 



The expense budget usually shows liberal appropriations 
for " cultural " purposes. National expenses for 1909-10 
were as follows — 



Necessary Expenses 

Kroner. 

Army and Navy . 18,933,000 
Royal House, Govern- 
ment, Storting . 3,364,000 
Courts, Civil Adminis- 
tration . . . 3,890,000 
Tax Collecting . . 3,064,000 
Foreign Affairs . 538,000 
Pensions . . . 1,161,000 
National Debt . . 15,462,000 



46,412,000 



" Cultural " Expenses 

Kroner. 

Church, School, Science 

and Art . . 9,352,000 

Medical System . 2,383,000 

Trade . . . 3,080,000 

Means of Communi- 
cation . . . 5,919,000 



20,734,000 

Other Expenses . 1,598,000 



Total . . . 68,744,000 



It does not " pay " to be rich in Norway. The man with 
a large income is at a distinct disadvantage. While the 
city workman whose wages do not exceed 
Income^Tax ^ kroner a year is taxed only at the rate 
of 1*62 per cent., the tax rate increases by a 
rapid progression until, in certain districts, a man who is 



128 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



so well circumstanced as to enjoy an income of 20,000 kroner 
is obliged annually to pay 28 per cent, of that amount into 
the public treasury. If he inherits property, he must 
pay an inheritance tax that soars progressively according 
to the value of the estate. This excessive discrimination 
against the rich is probably not paralleled in any other 
country. 

In the various programmes for social reform described 
above in the chapters relating to Denmark, such as co- 
operative societies among the farmers and un- 
A Socfci? d employment clubs among industrial workers, 
Reforms. Norway has either adopted Danish methods 
or carried out plans even more radical of 
her own. In 1914 a Bill was presented to the Storting 
designed to protect, by severe legislation, the rights of illegiti- 
mate children. In the days of the Vikings, all children had 
equal claims in the eyes of the law, whether born in or out 
of wedlock, a state of affairs which was responsible for many 
a civil war between rival claimants to the throne. The law 
advocated by Johan Castberg, the social reformer, would, it 
is claimed, by making public acknowledgment a necessity, 
tend to decrease immorality. 

Norway is probably the " driest " nation upon the face of 
the globe, a happy condition not inherited from the Vikings 
and their mead horns, but brought about 
Temperance, through exacting legislation by a law-abiding 
people during the last fifty years. Of beer 
the Norwegians drank, per individual, an annual average 
during the years 1904-09 of only 18 liters — a small amount 
indeed compared with the 218 liters consumed by the Belgians 
in 1901-05. Of wine they drank only one liter, as compared 
with 140 liters by the French. The consumption of braendevin, 
or gin, formerly as excessive in Norway as in Denmark, has 
fallen from 16 liters in 1833 to two liters in 1905-6. Indeed, 
there is good prospect that beverages containing alcohol will 
be entirely inhibited. 



A New Nation 



129 



While the marriage rate is low, the birth rate is propor- 
tionately high, and this fact, combined with a surprisingly 
low death rate, provides for a satisfactory 
B Deaths nd i ncrease * n the population. In the first year 
of life only 10 infants die out of every 100, 
as against 15 in England, and 28 in Saxony, a condition which 
would seem to dispel fear of the rigours of the Northern winter. 
Generally speaking, the Norwegians claim that conservatism 
in the frequency of marriage, combined with longevity, is to 
be preferred to the other extreme. 

Judged as a whole, the brief experiment of the Norwegians 
as a new nation has proved a success. Although retaining 
a monarchical government, they have been 

o^emocracy a ^ e to carr y out their democratic ideals. 

The wide distribution of property ownership 
contributes to self-reliance and equality. There is no primo- 
geniture in the land, no landed gentry, no titles of nobility. 
There is nothing flamboyant or affected about their contention 
of democracy ; it is inbred and natural. No fellow-citizens 
are to be derided for snobbishness, for there is no occasion 
for arrogance ; none is to be commiserated for hardships, 
for all have shared in hardship and been steeled against 
adversity. 



CHAPTER XI 

BJORNSON AND IBSEN 

After Norway secured a Magna Charta and new liberties in 
1814, her poets turned back to the literature of mediaeval 
Iceland as a storehouse for the materials 
fronT^celand w ^ c ^ t° crea te a new national literature. 

The eddas and the sagas they regarded as 
their own national heritage, for they are written in Old 
Norse, a language common to Norway and Iceland, and their 
pages are filled with heroic deeds enacted among the f jelds and 
fjords. It was the era of romanticism. Just as English 
poets drew their imagery from Arthurian legend, so the 
youthful singers of aroused Norway sought their similes from 
songs of the pagan gods, from the lays of the Volsungs, and 
the heroic records of the Haralds, Olafs, and Haakons. 

Before Ibsen and Bjornson appeared, the nineteenth century 
in Norway had given to literature three great names : the 
poets Wergeland and Welhaven, both roman- 
Romanticism. ticists burning with patriotism, and Camilla 
Collett, Wergeland's sister, whose novel, 
The Governor's Daughter s 9 came as a powerful prelude to the 
woman's rights movement. When Bjornson and Ibsen 
arrived as young writers about the middle of the century, 
they also joined the ranks of the patriotic versifiers and found 
expression in the fine frenzy and imagery of romanticism. 

Time passed, and all Scandinavia heard from Copenhagen 
the trumpet call of Brandes, heralding a new age in literature. 

The young authors of Norway were alert to 
Realism. the demands of the times ; before the end 
of the '70' s their art was ceasing to bask in 
the dream-light of the past and the future, and concerned 
itself with actual modern life ; they discovered that this life 

130 



Bjdrnson and Ibsen 



131 



had other things to offer art than the old-fashioned romance 
of love ; that it had new loves, new hatreds, and all the 
complex and varied intellectual emotions of a scientific age. 
The reaction was sharp and complete ; in the '80' s it reached 
a climax in Norway, as in France, in that school of naturalism 
which, in its disregard for beauty of form and imagery, 
too often descends to baldness and brutality and glorifies 
whatever is as right. 

Literature, which had once inspired men to better living, 
was now become the dull slave and follower, the observer 
and recorder of the day's routine. A rebound 
Symbolism, was sure to follow. As early as the '90'$ we 
can detect a discontent with a mere literal 
interpretation of the machinery of living. Perhaps it was 
the study of psychology that gave authors boldness again 
to pry a little deeper beneath concrete facts, to welcome an 
occasional thrill of mystery, to resort to allegory. 

Certain it is that, while to-day Norwegian literature has 
not returned to the romanticism of Wergeland and 
Welhaven, and has not lost its realistic verity of style, it is 
disposed to seek for itself new dreamlands, to welcome 
intuition as a factor, to prophesy as well as to record. 
For lack of a better name, this latest modern tendency 
is sometimes called symbolism. 

Norway's Constitution was only fourteen years old when 
Henrik Ibsen was born at Skien in 1828. Reared in humble 
circumstances, the future dramatist was 
Ibsen. apprenticed in his youth to a provincial 
apothecary. Self-educated and aspiring to 
write, he went up in 1850 to Christiania, where he met 
Bjornson, and, like him, became imbued with the revolutionary 
ideals that had spread to Norway from the Continent. That 
same year he published his first drama, Catiline, a tragedy in 
blank verse, in which the Roman conspirator became, under 
Ibsen's treatment, a revolutionary hero. It was in this 
year that the virtuoso, Ole Bull, had opened a theatre in 



132 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Bergen. Recognising Ibsen's talent, Bull secured him a 
position as dramatic adviser at the theatre, one of his duties 
being to compose and present a new play each year. This 
position enabled the young author to travel and widen his 
mental horizon. Thus Ibsen entered upon his career. 

Much of Ibsen's literary life was spent outside of Norway. 
In 1857 he removed to Christiania from Bergen, where 

Bjornson succeeded him at the theatre. The 
Abroad. progressive nature of Ibsen's recurring plays 

shocked the Norwegian public, and the 
dramatist sought the repose needed for his artistic develop- 
ment in a voluntary exile. He took up his residence now in 
Rome, now in Dresden, now in Munich. With few exceptions, 
however, the warp and woof of his dramas are Norwegian. 
Late in life he returned to his native land to end his days, 
and, six years after he published his last play, he died in 
Christiania, in 1906. 

Following the chart of industrial and intellectual life in 
Europe, from Ibsen's first revolutionary verses in 1848 to 

his last symbolic drama at the dawn of the 
Periods new cen ^ ur y» & will be seen that the successive 

stages of his growth as a dramatist are 
an index to the changing spirit of the times. His 22 published 
plays may be separated into four periods : six dramas of 
romanticism, followed by four of transition, six again of 
realism, and, finally, six twilight plays of symbolism. Ibsen 
did not embrace the extremes in the literary fashions of his 
age that were ventured by Zola and Strindberg, Bernard Shaw 
and Maeterlinck, but, with well-balanced artistic judgment, 
he advanced from imagination through reason to intuition. 

The dramas of his early period are written, some of them, in 
verse, laden with passages of lyrical beauty ; they base their 

historical material on the sagas, and are 

R pSys tlC t ^ lus * n accor d tne prevailing national 

tendency to dream upon the glories of an 
heroic past. The Lady of Ostrat (1855), The Feast of Solhoug 




Underwood & Underwood 



Bjornson and Ibsen 



133 



(1856), Loves Comedy (1862), The Vikings of Helgeland 
(1858), and The Pretenders (1863) are plays dear to Norwegians, 
though their appeal to a larger world is limited. 

The following period of transition between the early 
historical-romantic plays and the realistic dramas in prose, 

gave literature four of Ibsen's noblest produc- 
" Peer Gynt." tions— Brand (1866), Peer Gynt (1867), The 

League of Youth (1869), and Emperor and 
Galilean (1873). In the character of Brand, the Norwegian 
clergyman who places duty to God majestically above love, 
wife, and child, Ibsen exemplified the virtues which he 
failed to detect in his countrymen ; while in the dreaming, 
devil-may-care Peer Gynt he typified their defects as well as 
the poet's own weaknesses. Gifted by nature with many 
talents, Peer fails to employ them. He is too self-reliant to 
be true to his real self. In the second part of the play, Peer 
passes through almost as many life experiences as Faust in 
the second part of Goethe's play, and is eventually saved by 
the love of the woman, Solveig, who has waited long for him. 
It is the beauty of the lines still more than the monumental 
plan of the composition that makes this play of the progress 
of a human soul Ibsen's masterpiece. 

This was the period, also, of Ibsen's lyric poems, since 
collected into a small volume. The compactness of passionate 

utterance combined with the crisp metallic 
Lyrics. ring of the Norse lines alone would entitle 

the poet to a place in the hall of fame. In 
the works of Ibsen, Norwegian verse, and later, dialogue, 
reached their most sure and supple expression since 
saga-time. 

Long and earnestly Ibsen laboured over the two parts of 
his Emperor and Galilean, considered by him his greatest 
play. This drama describes the reign of the 
^Emjrire^ Roman Emperor, Julian, in the fourth century, 
attributing to him an unsuccessful attempt 
to found a Third Empire to succeed Rome and the Church, in 



134 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



which Ibsen apparently embodied his own dream of a coming 
social revolution. 

In 1877, Ibsen definitely abandoned poetry and romance, 
and devoted himself to those six realistic prose plays of 

modern domestic life that gave him inter- 
plays™ national fame, and to the theatre at large a 

new conception of the drama. Each and all 
answer the requirement laid down by Brandes, the Danish 
critic, that literature, to be living, must present life's problems 
for debate. Most frankly and mercilessly did Ibsen carry 
out his task of laying bear the self-deceptions of society. 
Pillars of Society (1877) exposes the hypocrisy of supposed 
public benefactors. A Doll's House (1879) defends a married 
woman's determination to preserve and develop her individu- 
ality. Ghosts (1881) shows how terribly the iniquity of the 
father is visited upon the son. An Enemy of the People (1882) 
demonstrates that one man in a community may be in the 
right and the majority in the wrong. The Wild Duck (1884) 
recounts the misfortunes brought about by an inopportune 
idealist. Hedda Gabler (1890) presents the tragedy of a 
modern Brynhildr, a large-hearted woman who finds herself 
environed by her own act in petty domestic circumstances to 
which she will not surrender her soul. 

But Ibsen was a poet as well as a sociological dramatist. 
These relentless realistic dramas were succeeded in the mellow 

twilight of his declining years by six 
" BuildS- a '* er pl a Y s tha.t f although written in prose, show 

Ibsen again revelling in the imaginative 
powers to which he had given play in Brand and Peer Gynt 
and the lyrics. These plays, Rosmersholm (1886), The Lady 
from the Sea (1888), The Master Builder (1892), Little Eyolf 
(1894), John Gabriel Borkman (1896), and When We Dead 
Awaken (1899), are dramas of subtle psychology, of which 
the characters are mysterious and symbolical. 

Ibsen had learned from the sagas the power of graphic 
characterisation and psychological penetration. With supreme 



Bjornson and Ibsen 



135 



technical skill he developed a dialogue clean cut and chiselled 
like granite, that carries us back to the Greek tragedies ; so, 
too, his manner of drawing all the action 
Dramatic a ^out the supreme tragic situation. Ibsen 
Power. devoted himself exclusively to dramatic crafts- 
manship. He even gave up the writing of 
occasional verse, and this was at a time when, among his 
contemporaries, Bjornson was dividing his powers between 
letters and public life, and Strindberg was experimenting in 
every conceivable form of literary expression. Before Ibsen, 
Norway had no stage traditions ; the plays acted were in 
Danish ; Ibsen and Bjornson gave to Norway a drama, in 
recognition of which their statues, in giant size, stand to-day 
in front of the National Theatre erected in Christiania in 
1899, where the son of one of them, Bjorn Bjornson (1858), 
became first manager and an actor. Abroad, Ibsen's 
plays have been translated into many tongues ; into English 
by William Archer. To Norway belongs the distinction of 
having created, through Ibsen's problem plays, a new genre 
in the drama, undreamed of by Aeschylus or Aristophanes, 
Shakespeare or Moliere ; these plays quickened the develop- 
ment of modern drama throughout Europe, influencing 
playwrights as widely scattered as Strindberg in Sweden, 
Edvard Brandes in Denmark, Hauptmann in Germany, 
Giacosa in Italy, and Bernard Shaw in England. 

Although Bjornstjerne Bjornson (1832-1910) was four years 
Ibsen's junior, he usually anticipated him in feeling the 
spirit of the times, and turning from romantic 
Bjornson. to realistic, and again to symbolical moods of 
expression. More spontaneous than Ibsen, 
Bjornson did not plan his compositions with such exacting 
care ; his diction rings buoyant and virile, but lacks the 
compression and finish of Ibsen's style. Among the large 
number of his plays, those best known, perhaps, to English 
readers are The Newly Wedded (1865), the unfolding of a 
married woman's character from daughter to wife ; The 

io— (2384) 



136 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Gauntlet (1883), a prophecy of modern eugenics, in which the 
same moral standard is demanded for the man as for the 
woman ; and Beyond Human Power II (1895), a half mystical 
portrayal of the abyss yawning between capital and labour. 

Bjornson' s impetuous spirit did not confine itself to the 
drama, but found expression as well in prose and verse, 
oration and essay, tale and novel. His best 
Tales and short stories are those of his young manhood, 
ynCS * written in the mood of romance, dreaming 
idylls of Norwegian farm life hemmed in by snow-capped 
peaks. Among them are the love tale of Synndve Solbakken 
(1857), and Ame (1858), a romance of the youth who longed 
to see the great world, to follow the soaring eagle beyond the 
lofty mountains. Much of Bjornson' s patriotic and lyrical 
verse belongs to those years of anticipation and his national 
song for Norway — 

Yes, we love this land that towers 
Where the ocean foams. 



Bjornson was, however, more than an author. He was 
leading actor in the drama of Norway's national life, whose 
destinies his personality has affected even 

An ^ng° Wned more than have his writin g s - The biography 
of his life, by Christen Collin, is as stimulating 
as Bjornson's collected works. He was born the son of a 
country pastor of sturdy yeoman stock, and the inherited 
desire to preach, to teach, to direct his people, never forsook 
him. As public speaker and pamphleteer he contributed to 
every overshadowing public discussion, and to his persistent 
patriotism, as much as to any other factor, Norway owed her 
new independence in 1905. Brandes has described Bjornson 
as a sower of ideas upon the barren fells of the North, and as 
one who had hoisted the Norwegian flag upon the roof-tops 
of the world. He has been called " Norway's uncrowned 
King." 



Bjornson and Ibsen 137 



Bjornson was probably the greatest orator the Northern 
world has ever known. His height, his tremendous physique, 
his fearlessness, and, at the same time, his 
Orator tender and magnetic personality, gave to his 
silver speech a transcending power of con- 
viction. His opponents must needs retire to give answer 
through pamphlets and the press. Bjornson s name trans- 
literates into " Bear-star Bear-son." He was in his last 
years affectionately called " the old bear " ; and, indeed, 
his white upright hair, large eyes, and bushy, beetling eye- 
brows did suggest to one who saw him the white bear of the 
Arctic. " The seal of the bear," the impress of Bjornson' s titanic 
personality, has been stamped upon modern Norwegian life. 

Bjornson subsisted upon the labours of his pen. With 
the help of a generous publisher, he was able to purchase, in 
1873, a considerable estate, " Aulestad," in 
Aulestad ^ e valley of Gausdal, where he was sur- 
rounded by a large family and guests, much 
as Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford. Bjornson, for all that, 
lived much abroad. He visited America. He came under 
the influence of such modern thinkers as Mill, Spencer, 
Darwin, Taine, and Brandes. His closing years were devoted 
largely to fighting to preserve the integrity of the literary 
language against the enforced legislation of Landsmaal, the 
peasant speech. He was the first Scandinavian to receive 
the Nobel Prize in literature, an honour which the Swedish 
Academy conferred upon Bjornson in 1903. Dying in Paris, 
in 1910, his last hours were lightened by the news of the 
favourable reception of his latest play, When the New Wine 
Blooms. 

Contemporary with Ibsen and Bjornson, third in the hall 
of literary fame, was Jonas Lie (1833-1908). He spent his 
childhood at Tromso, far north on the coast 
Lie. of Nordland, among the fishing folk and coast 
dwellers who later figured in his short 
stories and romances. Although a lawyer by profession, he 



138 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



entered upon a literary career at the age of 35. For fifteen 
years he wrote in a romantic vein, resisting the realistic 
tendency of his contemporaries. In 1883, however, he 
followed Bjornson and Ibsen into problem literature, only to 
revert, in 1891, to the weird mystical element in his two- 
volume collection of folk tales entitled Trold. Lie's style 
reminds an Englishman of Mrs. Gaskell. His novels describe 
the quiet interiors of Norwegian home life, without rising to 
the stern and heroic moods of Ibsen and Bjornson. Perhaps 
the best known of his books hitherto translated into English 
is The Commodore's Daughter (1886). Lie received an annual 
author's stipend from the Norwegian Government, as did 
Bjornson and Ibsen. Like them, also, he lived many years 
away from Norway, in Paris. 

Alexander Kielland, fourth in the array of " immortals " 
(1849-1906), possessed a brilliant and satirical prose style. 

He was a careful workman, who finished his 
Kielland. plays and novelettes in the spirit of contem- 
porary French realists. Much of his work 
is directed towards reform in school, in the church, and in 
the State. 

In the '80's, naturalism in Norwegian literature became in 
some quarters as frank and outspoken as in French. During 
this period, a woman novelist, Amalie Skram 
Sk^am 6 (1847-1905), in a style peculiarly ironical and 
antithetical, analysed the lives of unhappy 

women. 

Another woman novelist, Alvilde Prydz (1848), with more 
feeling for the romantic, has portrayed in an appealing manner 
the struggle of lonely women, shut off from 
Prydz 6 congenial surroundings to attain their intellec- 
tual freedom. Her masterpiece, The Heart 
of the Northern Sea (1896), has passed through five editions, 
and several other novels have been done into English. 

Arne Garborg (1851) writes in Landsmaal, the new 
" national " language described in the next chapter. His 



Bjornson and Ibsen 139 



zealous work in its behalf has been recognised by the Govern- 
ment, which has awarded him an annual stipend. Garborg's 

first literary effort was a critique of Ibsen's 
Garborg. Emperor and Galilean, his first important book 

A Freethinker, He is a prolific author of 
novels, verse, essays, and plays, in which he is true to the 
changing literary impulses of the times, and ardently cham- 
pions national issues. He is the only writer in Landsmaal 
whose works have been translated extensively into other 
languages. One work, however, bids fair to defy successful 
translation : Haugtussa, a lyrical verse cycle describing a 
farmer girl's reaction upon natural scenery. The amazing 
beauty of the imaginative passages of this poem, when read 
aloud in the soft, melodious accents of the Landsmaal, seems 
all a part of the fragrance and the essence of the Norwegian 
soil. A pity that they are hidden in a language comprehended 
only by the few ! 

Jacob Breda Bull (1853) aims to interpret vividly but 
faithfully the rural communities of Osterdal, his native 

district, as they actually exist. His short 
Bull. tales, especially those collected in the volume 

Fell Folk (1908), are delicately finished 
cameos of life indoors in the country. 

Gunnar Heiberg (1857) is a dramatist whose plays attacked 
with reckless abandon persons and conventions. His King 

Midas (1890), with its stinging satire upon 
Heiberg. well-known writers, aroused all Scandinavia. 

His Balcony (1894) shocked the moral sense 
of the public, notwithstanding the beauty of its lyrical 
passages. 

The author Knut Hamsun (1860) has been called the 
spiritual successor to the literary giants, Ibsen, Bjornson, 
Lie, and Kielland. His impulsive style 
Hamsun. contains dross freely mingled with gold. 

In copious novels and plays, he has gone to 
the limits of hard and cruel naturalism. Probing again 



140 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



fiercely beneath the surface, he has evinced powers of refined 
intuition that place him beside Munch in painting and Vigeland 
in sculpture. Hamsun is a vagabond, a wanderer, a super- 
individualist, vehemently arraigning current social conditions 
from the point of view of his own personal bias. His Intellec- 
tual Life in Modem America (1888) presents a somewhat 
bitter account of his own personal experience. Hunger 
(1890), again, is a novel in part autobiographical, depicting 
the effects of physical suffering upon a supersensitive nature. 
Shallow Soil (1893) is a powerful story of a Norse artistic 
Bohemia. Victoria (1898) is a vibrant and colourful prose 
idyl of a love unrealised. Some works by Hamsun have 
been translated into many languages. 

Hulda Garborg (1862) is Arne Garborg s gifted wife. Her 
novels and plays are studies of woman of 
Garborg ^ e P resent time. Madame Garborg is intro- 
ducing into Norway the song folk dances of 
the Faroe Islands. 

Hans Aanrud (1863) is a prolific writer of 
Aanrud. humorous tales in dialect. The farm and the 
children are his inspiration. Comedy also he 
has produced, his most popular play being The Stork, 
Thomas Krag's chief novel (1868-1912), Gunvor Kjeld 
(1904), portrays the tragic experience of a 
Krag pair of lovers who, in absolute good faith, 
hold that their union is justifiable in spite of 
society's marriage conventions. 

Peter Egge (1869) has developed a straightforward objec- 
tive style, through which runs an undercurrent of shy 
sentiment. His novel The Heart (1907) is 
Egge * a tale of ill-paired married life in the bleak 
old cathedral town of Trondhjem. 

Vilhelm Krag (1871), brother of Thomas, is a lyric poet 
who belongs to a new romantic era that has 
Vilhelm Krag. thrown off the ritual of rea lism. Krag was 

formerly director of the National Theatre. 



Bjornson and Ibsen 



141 



A novel by Johan Bojer (1872), The Power of a Lie (1903), 
was awarded a prize by the French Academy. Bojer satirises 
the corrupting influence of town politics upon 
Bojer. ^ rura j population. His style has been 
compared with that of Hall Caine. 

Norway has a younger poet of distinct 
BuU promise in Olaf Bull (1882), son of a writer 
mentioned above, whose love lyrics contain 
a modern note of refined pathos. 

The literature of Norwegian scholarship is characterised 
not only by painstaking research but by highly developed 
imaginative power and originality. Johan 
SCh Critics and Sars ( 1835 )> the historian, interprets the trend 
of national growth. Sophus Bugge (1833- 
1907), the philologist, collected ballads, edited the poetic 
edda, deciphered the Northern runes and the Etruscan 
inscriptions. He demonstrated that the early pagan literature 
of the North had borrowed extensively from Ireland, Britain, 
and Christendom in general. Moltke Moe (1859-1914) was 
a distinguished folk-lorist and an inspiring lecturer upon 
mediaeval literature. Sigurd Ibsen (1859), diplomat and 
publicist, son of the dramatist, married Bjornson's eldest 
daughter, Bergliot ; his chief work, a volume of essays, has 
been Englished with the title, The Human Quintessence. In 
1914 he appeared also as a dramatist, and his play Robert 
Frank was at once published in English. 

Fridtjof Nansen (1861), explorer and deep sea naturalist, 
is, incidentally, also author of Northern Mists (1910), a 
history of Northern exploration in early 
Nansen. times. Jens Thiis (1870), art critic and 
director of the National Museum, is author 
of a standard work on Leonardo da Vinci. Alexander Bugge 
(1870), son of Sophus, is an able historian of mediaeval 
Scandinavia. Most of these scholars have held Chairs at 
the University of Christiania. 

Christen Collin (1857), Professor of European Literature at 



142 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



the University of Christiania, friend and biographer of 
Bjornson, is a critic of broad idealistic sympathies, who 
has looked askance upon the cold natur- 
Collin. alism of the '80' s, and the ultra-rationalistic 
influence which Brandes has exercised over 
Northern minds. His Religion of Brotherhood (1912) discusses 
Darwinism in the light of the new life of to-day, while his 
Battle Over Love and Art (1913) takes up afresh the debate 
with Brandes and the literary disciples of naturalism. Collin's 
sober and comprehensive essays contain as much of philosophy 
and sociology as artistic criticism. This great thinker con- 
ceives of literature as a record of the progress of human 
ideals. 

The newspapers of the capital city are usually Conservative 
in their politics, or Socialistic ; while the strong Liberal- 
agricultural party is best served by the Press 
Periodicals. of the country towns. Three of the leading 
dailies in Christiania are : the old-established 
newspaper, Morgenbladet, that received new life when the 
energetic young writer, C. J. Hambro (1885), became chief 
editor in 1913 ; Aftenposten, which is progressive in tendency 
and a favourite advertising medium ; and Tidens Tegn, which 
devotes considerable space to news of art and literature. 
Among the magazines : Edda contains thoughtful literary 
essays of permanent value ; Samtiden presents careful 
discussions of current issues, edited by Professor Gerhard 
Gran (1856), one of the most stimulating of living essayists ; 
Kunst og Kultur is an attractive illustrated art journal. In 
the past thirty years the number of newspapers and magazines 
published in Norway has tripled. In 1913 they numbered 
692, of which 297 appeared in Christiania, a tribute certainly 
to the reading intelligence of a people of only two and a half 
millions, living, in large part, in districts rugged and remote. 



CHAPTER XII 



A NORSE ESPERANTO 

The Norwegians have been called " the Irishmen of Scan- 
dinavia/' To foreigners the typical Norwegian, with his 

fervid idealism and robust individuality, 
anTc^lt* 1 su gg ests comparison with the Celt. Once a 

Norwegian has formed an opinion of his 
own, he will defend it stoutly against a world of protest. 
He will listen respectfully to arguments that appear un- 
answerable, only to parry back again with strong counter 
logic. Overwhelming proof does not terrify him. This trait, 
perhaps, accounts for the partisan fervour with which the 
question of language has been debated in Norway. 

Like Ireland, Norway has her language agitation, the 
difference being that the Gaelic which the Nationalists would 

introduce in Ireland is an ancient tongue 

Language 1 that * S st ^ alive * n P artS ° f tlie islanc *' 
whereas the so-called Landsmaal, or " country 

language/' that members of the Liberal Party would establish 

in Norway in place of Norwego-Danish, is, like Esperanto, an 

invented language, made up of words and forms borrowed 

from a score of peasant dialects. The fierceness with which 

the war has been waged for the introduction of a new language 

is characteristic of the superb idealism of the national 

temperament. 

" Freedom with self-government, home and land, and our 
own language ! " Such was the plea of Mr. Jorgen L6 viand, 
subsequently Premier of Norway, in an address 

^anguTge^ to the Norwegian y° uth in 1904 > the Y ear 
before Norway achieved her separation from 

Sweden. In that speech he pointed to the great goals of the 
bulk of the Liberal Party ; a Norwegian Government free 
from Sweden, and a Norwegian language free from Danish. 

143 



144 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



" Political freedom/ ' said Mr. Lovland, " is not the deepest 
and greatest. Greater is it for a nation to preserve her 
intellectual inheritance in her native tongue/' 

To understand the Norwegian Maalstraev, or language 
agitation, it is necessary to glance at history. When Norway 

detached herself from Denmark, in 1814, 
*Danish " Danish remained the official language. During 

the four and a half centuries that Norway was 
united with Denmark, Danish gradually had taken the place 
of Norwegian as the medium of church, school, and law- 
court, and the table conversation of the cultured in the 
cities. Little by little, however, the Norwegians adapted 
Danish to their own intonation and sound articulation. 
Thus, in the course of centuries, a new idiom grew out of the 
provincial Danish, much as French and Spanish, in centuries 
past, emerged from provincial brogues of Latin. To the 
eyes, this nationalisation of Danish was to a great extent 
hidden in the written language until recent times by the old 
Danish orthography. But, when spoken, the musical tongue 
of Bjornson and Ibsen resembles Swedish more than Danish. 

This Norwego-Danish is not by any means the medium of 
the great mass of the Norwegian people. Seventy per cent. 

of the population live in the rural districts ; 
Dialects anc * Norwegian farmers, in daily speech, 

employ a babel of dialects that descend from 
the Old Norse. At the same time, the humbler classes in 
the cities, being immigrants from the country, use, when 
off duty, dialects derived from the neighbouring country 
patois. It is estimated that more than 95 per cent, of the 
Norwegian people speak dialect. Norwego-Danish, however, 
commonly called Rikstnaal, is the language of ceremony, and 
the speech that the foreigner hears when he travels in Norway. 

Until the nineteenth century, there was no consistent 
attempt to raise the native Norwegian dialects to the dignity 
of a literary language. To take up a word from the patois 
was a barbarism. " Even to the farmer/' says Arne Garborg, 



A Norse Esperanto 



145 



poet and champion of the dialects, " Danish was Holy Writ. 
Our Lord had talked Danish on Sinai, and we should 

all talk Danish in Heaven." After Norway 
N Danish? g secured her Constitution in 1814, however, 

in the romantic spirit of nationalism, 
Norwegians began to cherish every vestige of Old Norse 
culture. Dialect words were introduced into speech and 
poetry, just as carved dragon patterns from country churches 
into the weaving of table-cloths. The poet Wergeland 
borrowed words copiously from the dialects. His Norwego- 
Danish, which Wergeland himself tuned to marvellous lyric 
flights, opened the way for Bjornson and Ibsen ; and the 
publication of folk tales and ballads in the dialects has been 
followed by the rich dialect literature of Aasen, Vinje, and 
Garborg. A peasant-born scholar, Knud Knudsen, became 
the zealous grammarian of the " Danish-Norwegian move- 
ment," and it is largely through his efforts that official 
Norwego-Danish now employs a reformed spelling, differing 
considerably from Danish, and to some degree phonetic. 

With Aasen' s name we come to a new issue, a movement 
antagonistic to the gradual Norsefying of the Riksmaal, and 

founded on the supposition that the Norwego- 
Aasen Danish can never become a truly national 

language by gradual growth. Early in the 
last century, P. A. Munch, the linguist and historian, intimated 
the idea of a romantic re-birth of the Old Norse through the 
unification of living peasant dialects. And this idea, which, 
on reflection, was abandoned by Munch, was later taken up 
and splendidly put into practice by his highly gifted peasant 
pupil, Ivar Aasen (1813-1896). Aasen was first subsidized 
by a scientific society to travel and study " the remains of 
the old language crowded out by the union with Germanized 
Denmark." In 1848 he published The Grammar of the 
Norwegian Popular Language, and, in 1850, a Dictionary of 
the Norwegian Popular Language. These works virtually 
established a new medium of speech. Aasen discovered that 



146 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



there was a closer connection between the dialects than before 
supposed, and a richer vocabulary, and that they were 
descended, not from corrupt Danish, but from Old Norse. 
He constructed common forms and spellings, especially 
favouring the dialects of Western Norway, which lie nearest 
the Old Norse, and incorporated, now and then, the forms 
of the old language. " He had shown," says the poet Garborg, 
" that the Norwegian tongue was still in existence, yes, that 
it lived a richer and fresher life than anyone had dreamed. 
It was, indeed, the new Norway he had discovered on the 
sites of the old." 

In 1853, Aasen issued an essay in defence of his new language, 
which he called Landsmaal, " country speech." He also 
made good his claims for Landsmaal as a 
" Landsmaal. ' ' literary medium by composing poems of 
distinct merit. Upon Aasen's text-books and 
his literary works the Landsmaal of to-day is based, although, 
in the course of time, it has been modified by Aasen himself 
and by other authors, with a tendency to make its grammar 
more modern, and to introduce more forms from the Eastern 
dialects. 

Aasen died in 1896, after living to see many triumphs for 
the speech that he had coined. He saw a new literature 
written in his language, and translations of Snorri, and the 
New Testament. He heard Landsmaal sung in the churches 
and taught in the schools. Two years before his death, 
Parliament printed a new law in the new language. " Ivar 
Aasen," says Garborg, " is for the New Norse people a Moses, 
who points the road away from the foreign land of Goshen 
and home." 

Aasen's Landsmaal would never have obtained its present 
following had it not been taken up as a political issue ; it 
would have remained as it began, an inter- 
Movemenf est ing grammatical curiosity. But the new 
language came at a time when Nationalism, 
with all its romantic atmosphere, was strong in Norway. 



A Norse Esperanto 



147 



The Liberal Party — in other words, the Agricultural Party — 
took to itself everything which was " Norse-Norse/' The 
doctrine of a Norwegian language was a bulwark to the 
policy of national independence. Again, it was a powerful 
weapon for the politician. Norway for the farmer, and a 
farmer's language for Norway. " We farmers ! " is the 
battle-cry of the Maal-man. 

The astonishing success of the Landsmaal propaganda can 
best be followed in the enactments of the Storting regarding 
instruction in the public schools. On 12th 

Legation Ma Y' 1885 ' b ^ a vote of 78 a g ainst 31 > Liberals 
against Conservatives, the Storting handed 
the Government a request " to adopt the necessary measures 
so that the people's language, as school and official language, 
be placed side by side with our ordinary written speech/ ' 

In 1892, the expression of 1885 was put into tangible form 
by the following law for elementary schools : " The school 
board (in each district) shall decide whether the school 
readers and text-books shall be composed in Landsmaal or 
the ordinary book-maal, and in which of these languages the 
pupil's written exercises shall in general be composed. But 
the pupil must learn to read both languages." This last 
clause made the study of Landsmaal obligatory in the elemen- 
tary schools throughout Norway. To carry out the first 
clause — to induce the local school boards to introduce the 
Landsmaal as the written medium of instruction — the Lands- 
maal federations have laboured incessantly. In 1896 the 
Storting enforced the study of Landsmaal upon the high 
schools. 

Until 1899, Landsmaal encountered little organised resis- 
tance. The movement itself was well organised. A Society 
founded in 1868 for the publication of texts 
Th6 Union maal had s P read Landsmaal literature over all the 
land, and local clubs carried on the agitation 
everywhere. Riksmaal remained an inert spectator, because 
the Conservative regarded the movement as a transient 



148 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



fanaticism. In the '90's, however, when the gravity of the 
situation became apparent, many voices were raised in 
protest, and, in 1899, at the initiative of the author, Bjorn- 
stjerne Bjornson, a " Riksmaal Union" was formed. This 
league, also, prints pamphlets, sends out speakers, and 
organises local unions. Its object is, on the one hand, to 
reverse the laws in reference to Landsmaal, and, on the other, 
to promote the Norsefying of Riksmaal. The main difference 
between the two opposite camps may be expressed by saying 
that Aasen's followers stand for a revolution in literary 
language, whereas Bjornson's party stand for evolution. 

From 1899 to 1905, Norway was absorbed by the crises 
which led to her complete national independence. The 

supreme issue once removed, however, the 
University language question again came to the fore. 

In fact, it held the Liberal Party together. 
In 1906 the " Maal-strivevs," as the promoters of " New 
Norse " are called, set up a central congress for their local 
leagues, called " Norway's Maal League/' In 1908 Lands- 
maal was enforced upon the University by a Royal Resolution, 
students being allowed to write their examination papers, 
according to their own choice, either in Riksmaal or " New 
Norse" (Landsmaal). At the University there has been, 
since 1899, a Chair in Landsmaal occupied by Professor 
Marius Haegstad. 

From 1905 to 1909, Landsmaal advanced rapidly. In the 
latter year, all school children in Norway were learning to 

read it. One hundred and twenty-five out 
Advance of 650 sch ° o1 districts had adopted " New 

Norse " as the medium of instruction. While 
in the Bishopric of Christiania, the stronghold of Riksmaal, 
not a single school had, as yet, voted for the new language, 
its teaching being limited to the minimum required by law, 
in the Bishopric of Bergen, the stronghold of Landsmaal, 
56 out of 101 country parishes had adopted " New Norse/' 
and 20 more were on the way, 



A Norse Esperanto 



149 



The appeal of Landsmaal is an appeal to nationalism. It 
rests upon the axiom that a free nation must have its own 
language — " La langue, c'est la nation/* In 

Nationalism t " ie e ^ es °* S 00 ^ Maal-men, it is a national 

disgrace for Norwegians to speak Danish, 
however modified. A native language, the Maal-strivers 
claim, is the best medium for developing a national culture. 
" In all lands/' says Mr. Lovland, " the elevation of a people 
to full cultural development has been accompanied by an 
elevation of the mother tongue. So it was in Norway in the 
time of the Eddas. So it was in Italy, when Dante, from 
twelve dialects, as he himself says, raised up an Italian 
language. So it was in England, when the English language 
supplanted the Norman- French/ ' 

The farmer, they claim, is the true bearer of Norwegian 
culture. He is the heir of the Vikings. He has preserved in 

the construction and decoration of his houses 
th^ P Farmers and woo ^ en churches the old dragon motives. 

His speech is the direct descendant of the 
classical saga tongue of the thirteenth century. The following 
is quoted from a campaign speech at a farmers' meeting in 
1908 : "He who cultivates the soil shall be the bearer of the 
land's highest culture. It lies in the very nature of agricul- 
ture, this principle. Culture is cultivation. But, if the 
farmer is to decide the question of culture, then the farmer's 
language must be the language of culture ! " 

The opponents of Landsmaal deny the necessity of a 
language altogether distinct from the Danish. The Americans 

are, for example, a tolerably free people. Do 

The c?Sms! ti0n the y deem il a national disgrace to talk 
English? Do they think it necessary to 
coin a new language out of Chippewa and Sioux to develop 
the national character ? It is absurd to talk of Landsmaal 
as a language for cultural progress. Its grammar is antiquated 
and cumbersome, " dug up " from the fjords after a sleep of 
six centuries. It is the language of rural life. It has no 



150 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



vocabulary for art, philosophy, science, commerce, industry. 
Riksmaal, on the other hand, is trained and tried in 
interpreting modern life. 

Since 1909, industrial questions like the ownership of 
waterfalls have come up to engross the attention of Norway's 
law makers, and the " maal-strivers " have 
Future rested on their oars. Whatever the future 
attitude of Parliament, it is not likely that 
Landsmaal will ever wholly supplant Norwego-Danish as the 
official speech of the realm. Professors and business and 
professional men are lined up pretty solidly against it. Its 
champions are found chiefly among teachers and politicians. 
It is said that there are fewer than a thousand persons in 
Norway who actually use " New Norse " in conversation. 
The speakers of Riksmaal will cling to their language in spite 
of legislation. Landsmaal is a means rather than an end. 
It will precipitate the levelling of the dialects and the Norse- 
fying of the Riksmaal, which will draw more and more away 
from the Danish as a written language, as it has already as 
a spoken tongue. The levelling of the Riksmaal and the 
dialects will take place when the waterfalls have been 
harnessed and Norway has become, as Bjornson predicted, 
an industrial nation. Meanwhile, with less than three million 
of inhabitants, Norway will enjoy the doubtful opulence of 
two official and literary languages. 



CHAPTER XIII 



THE FINE ARTS IN NORWAY 

In 1912 and 1913 a collection of Scandinavian paintings was 
brought to America, and shown in the art galleries of several 

cities through the initiative of John A. Gade, 
Painting. the Norwegian- American architect, at the 

time President of the American-Scandinavian 
Society of New York. This exhibition, which was subsidised 
in part by the American-Scandinavian Foundation, consisted 
of fifty paintings by living artists from each of the three 
Northern countries, and afforded a rare opportunity to study 
national temperaments. Compared with the unobtrusive 
monochromatics of the Danish section, and the luminous 
colouring of the Swedish galleries, the Norwegian paintings 
presented a striking contrast, with their bold drawing and 
strong, often strident, dashes of colour that gave to the entire 
exhibition its dominant Northern tone of freshness, sincerity, 
and strength. 

These Norwegian paintings were judged by the public 
from many points of view. Some declared them crude and 
glaring, perhaps even childish and impossible 
Progressive, as art. To many an expert critic, however, 
they appeared surprisingly modern, quite 
abreast of the latest nuances of art on the Continent. But 
Americans who were born in Norway felt that somehow they 
had been cheated of their birthright. Where were the scenes 
familiar to their childhood, treated in the old story-telling 
way— the smiling fjord, the frowning mountain, children 
romping in the hay ? Instead of these, there were psycho- 
logical portraits suggesting sociological conditions, and 
landscapes handled post-impressionistically. 

151 

ii— (2384) 



152 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



In painting, as in other forms of national expression, the 
Norwegians have shown their eagerness to assimilate the 
trend of modern life. During the past 
Sociology century of national existence, Norwegian 
artists have almost invariably studied abroad, 
and each succeeding art movement — the romantic, the 
anecdotal, the naturalistic, the post-impressionistic modes of 
painting — has found its clear counterpart in Norway. Like 
her literature, Norwegian painting also reflects changing 
social conditions. Just two years after Ibsen in Ghosts had 
shocked Norway by his terrible realism, the naturalists in 
1883 took their stand in Christiania for new realistic painting. 
When Ibsen in 1892 in his Master Builder crossed the border- 
line into symbolism and mystery, the pioneer Edvard 
Munch was holding his second exhibition of post-impressionist 
art. 

Norwegian landscape, especially the fjord- and-rock-bound 
grandeur of the west coast, inspired the brush of Christian 
Dahl (1788-1857), "father of Norwegian 
Dahl. painting." Dahl was the Constable of Nor- 
wegian art. He painted abroad, in Germany, 
and was appointed Professor of Art at Dresden. He ranked 
high among European landscapists, and his paintings, re- 
produced far and wide, helped to make the fjords of Norway 
a Mecca of travellers. 

After Dahl, romanticism in painting became more senti- 
mental and pretentious. From the '40's, Norwegian painters 
were attracted to Diisseldorf, where their 
Gude. renowned countryman was a teacher. Hans 
Gude (1825-1908) portrayed the fjords with 
a magnificence of colouring and an exaggeration of dimensions 
approaching the theatrical, while he painted the more smiling 
landscapes of eastern Norway with idyllic affection. 

His contemporary, Adolph Tidemand (1814-1876), another 
painter of the Diisseldorf School, championed the life and 
customs of the Norwegian peasant, the fisherman, the 



The Fine Arts in Norway 153 



milk-maid, which he painted in an anecdotal and often 
over-sentimental manner. His descriptive 
Tidemand. scenes are treasured for their national 

historical value. 
How far is contemporary work removed from the art of 
those days ! After Diisseldorf, the influence of Munich 
predominated. Forsaking Munich, it was in 

N r a Sifm d Paris < earl y in the ' 80 ' S ' that Norwegian 
painters assembled who were to introduce 
naturalism and scientific realism into Norwegian art. About 
1883, these artists returned to the North determined to 
develop a national art in accordance with open-air principles. 
The conflict with public opinion was a bitter one — the people 
of Christiania treat art almost as seriously as life itself — but 
the triumph was complete. Jens Thiis, director of the 
National Gallery, declares that " at last the art of painting, 
after centuries of thraldom under the overpowering prestige 
of the old masters, under the discipline of academies, and the 
formulae of pedantic aesthetes, cast off its fetters, and dared 
to view nature directly and paint her as she really appeared.' ' 
But not naturalism, even, is the end of the story in pro- 
gressive Norway. Dissatisfied with the external realities of 
scientific art, the more restless younger 
Impressionism. Norwe g ians studying abroad began to imitate 
those foreign masters who strove again to 
penetrate deeper still into the mysteries of life. On the 
Continent the men whose works they followed, Matisse, Van 
Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, are names symbolic of that so-called 
post-impressionism that has developed in its wake expres- 
sionism, cubism, futurism, and all the strange and unfathom- 
able creations that the present insurrection in art is heir 
to. 

Of that naturalistic tendency which spread from France to 
Norway in the '80's, four stalwart Norwegians stand out as 
leaders — Thaulow, Krohg, Werenskiold, and Munthe. The 
name of the landscapist, Frits Thaulow (1847-1906), is, 



154 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 

perhaps, the one best known in England and America. Born 
and bred in a family of gentle culture, he began his art 

training in Copenhagen, studied for a time 
Thaulow. under the old master of Norwegian landscape, 

Professor Gude, in Germany, and later, in 
1878, went to Paris, where he became an apostle of French 
plenarism. In 1881 he returned to Norway to champion the 
cause of naturalism, in opposition to the academic principles 
of German art, attracting to him pupils who styled themselves 
the Open-Air Academy. Although the new principles 
prevailed, Thaulow went back repeatedly to the more con- 
genial sunlight of France, where his paintings of the Seine, 
in 1889, first gained him international fame. 

The Norwegian scenery which Thaulow painted, the 
rushing torrents swirling between winter snows, the red 
farm-houses beside winding rivers, trees and bridges in the 
moonlight, are more delicate in their treatment than the 
open-air paintings of other Norwegian naturalists. Toward 
the end of his life, indeed, Thaulow' s colouring became over- 
refined. Like Kroyer in Denmark, Thaulow was international 
in appeal, as is indicated by the fact that his oils and pastels 
are found in galleries widely scattered — in Berlin, in Buda- 
pest, in Venice, in the White House at Washington. His 
great service to his fatherland was not that he developed a 
new style of painting, but, rather, that he interpreted for 
mankind, as Dahl did before him, the poetic significance of 
her scenery in a way the world could understand. 

There is more of the aroma of the soil about Christian 
Krohg (1852). He was influenced not less by the French 

impressionist painting than by the writings 
Krohg. of Maupassant and Zola and other naturalists. 

In common with these men of letters, he 
emphasised the fact that art is not limited to the physically 
colourful and beautiful ; art is intellectual also, and Krohg, 
like Ibsen in literature, resolutely preferred intellectual 
vivacity to surface beauty. Krohg showed his country that 



The Fine Arts in Norway 



155 



art could interpret common conditions of city life, even 
disease and poverty. His sea folk likewise come in for a 
share of attention. In one painting, a hardened mate pores 
anxiously over a Spanish map in a wildly pitching chart 
room, seeking to find his way out of " Dangerous Waters/' 
while the cabin lamp realistically casts its dim mocking 
glare on the bald head of the old mariner, and the slanting 
lines of the cabin indicate the character of the sea. 

Krohg is a veteran painter. He has won affection quite 
as much by his vigorous personality as by his art. The loose 
frocked patriarch, with his great gray beard, is a familiar 
figure in Christiania. He has frequently painted himself in 
characteristic, half-humorous attitudes, but confesses that 
only once has his portrait been satisfactorily done, and that 
is the picture in which a chair, empty save for his hat and 
cane, occupies the centre of the canvas, and which he has 
whimsically labelled " Portrait of Myself." 

Erik Werenskiold (1855) is one of the older painters whose 
youthful spirit has never been retarded by advancing years. 

He has hailed, one after another, the succes- 

Werenskiold. sive systems that modern art has espoused, 
and has kept well abreast of his younger 
colleagues. In one of his recent paintings, " Two Little 
Girls/' critics have seen the influence of the various stages 
through which he has passed. In the prim figures of the two 
little misses, side by side, severely realistic and devoid of any 
appeal to outward charm, there is still a touch of underlying 
sentiment from the artist's student days in Germany. At 
the same time, the angular drawing of this picture seems a 
genial, if awkward, concession to Werenskiold's younger 
brother artists of the post-impressionist school. 

Werenskiold developed portraiture in Norway. He has 
bequeathed to posterity a series of speaking likenesses of the 
literati of his day — Ibsen, Bjornson, Collett, and others — 
executed with considerable freshness, but not with the gusto 
of the ultra-progressives. Tapestries and frescoes also he 



156 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 

has designed, and he delights in painting landscapes. He 
chooses to live away from the city, among the spruces on the 
heights of Lysaker, overlooking Christiania fjord, from which 
he has breathed-in constant inspiration. 

If Thaulow is to be known for his landscapes, Krohg for 
his studies of social conditions, and Werenskiold for his 
portraits, the fourth member of the quartette 
Munthe. of Norwegian naturalists, Gerhard Munthe 
(1849), will be remembered for his decorative 
designs for mural painting and tapestries. He is popularly 
styled " the fairy-tale painter." 

Munthe has visualised the folk tale, rescued to literature 
by Asbjornson and Moe, and created new tales in paint of his 
own — as Hans Andersen in literature. His most beloved 
work was the series of paintings on wood in the " Fairy-Tale 
Room " of the ski-ing pavilion at Holmenkollen, unfortunately 
destroyed in 1914 by fire. As no other modern artist, Munthe 
has patriotically linked the art of Old Norse antiquity with 
that of the New Norway. 

As a designer of tapestry, Munthe has done many striking 
patterns. Picture his Odin, woven in white, striding across 
a blue background on his eight-legged steed, Sleipnir, accom- 
panied by jet ravens. In his drawings for Snorri's Kings 
Lives, the style conforms to the period depicted. Likewise, 
in the friezes for King's Hall at Bergen, he has sought 
with scientific accuracy the spirit of the thirteenth century. 
True to this historical principle, Munthe represents Norwegian 
landscapes naturalistically with the same grace with which 
he employs a style decoratively formal and constrained in his 
fairy-tale designs. 

Eilif Peterssen (1852) belongs to the period of transition 
between anecdote and impressionism, when the demand was 
for story-telling pictures, realistically por- 
Peterssen. trayed. In his treatment, Norwegian- 
Americans to-day recognise that domestic 
Norway of mountain chalet and fishing village, which they 



The Fine Arts in Norway 157 



affectionately associate with the words " home " and 
" fatherland." 

In Thorolf Holmboe' s (1866) painting of fjords one feels 
again the virile Norse attitude towards the tragic sternness 
of nature, the old spirit of Dahl, plus a certain 
Holmboe. dash and realism Holmboe has learned from 
the naturalists. His " Landscape with Pine 
Trees " seems swept by the winds. His " Mountains/' a 
scene from the Lofoten Islands, is a revelation of strident 
snow-capped peaks. 

In Denmark only one artist among the naturalists was 
found, Kroyer, who adhered strictly to the light and shadow 
formulae of French impressionism. In this 
Diriks. respect, in Norway, Edvard Diriks (1855) 
stands alone, with his delicate gradations of 
light and play of moving clouds over mountain and fjord — 
broad, free symphonies of harmonious colouring. 

The storm of protest that greeted the naturalists in 
Christiania in 1883 was as nothing compared to the heated 
vituperation called forth by the first and 
Munch. second exhibitions of Edvard Munch (1863) 
in 1889 and 1892. Munch is classed often- 
times with the post-impressionists on the art map of Europe. 
His supporters claim that he was not an imitator of the 
ultra-progressives of France, but an independent pioneer 
spirit. Without relinquishing an inch of scientific ground 
previously won, Munch went a step further in his search for 
the soul of things. His pictures were social studies, treated 
pessimistically, of poverty, disease and vice. Details of line 
were slighted in his seeming frenzy to catch the psychological 
import. 

To the academic mind, his colours seemed lurid, his drawing 
crude and childish. " He may be a great artist/' said his 
foes, " but he does not know how to draw." To the elect, 
however, Munch was a transcendent draughtsman, and the 
number of admirers has increased so that now his paintings 



158 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 

bring prices at home and abroad seldom reached by any other 
living Scandinavian artist excepting Anders Zorn. Jens 
Thiis, director of the National Gallery, through whose efforts 
a large collection of Munch' s sociological studies have been 
acquired for the Norwegian State, asserts of Munch that 
" with his intuitive genius, the profound spiritual depths of 
his vision, his richly varied and soulful, though not always 
technically finished productions, he remains the most inter- 
esting and compelling personality in Scandinavian painting 
to-day." 

His masterpiece, the superb canvas, " Spring," in the 
National Gallery, represents a girl half reclining in an invalid 

chair by an open window where the curtains 
" Spring.' * are tremulous with the reviving breezes of 

springtime. Another canvas, called the "Sick 
Child/' is thus described by Thiis : " Out of warm twilight 
tones gleams the pale profile of a child, with a halo of reddish 
golden hair. At her side appears the kneeling form of the 
mother, bowed in grief. The lines of composition are incom- 
parably blended in this picture, over which flutter the shadows 
of the wings of Death, and in which two beings, so fondly 
united, are about to be gently separated one from the 
other." 

Munch is a painter of landscapes, as well. In a way that 
no other artist can, he conveys on canvas the tinted atmosphere 
of the Northern summer night. His vibrant and mysterious 
backgrounds are vaguely outlined ; houses and trees are 
mere slumbering masses ; the foregrounds, however, are 
almost glaring with the pure colours of bright summer cos- 
tumes. " It is very characteristic of Munch' s art," says 
Thiis, " that it oscillates between the tender and the poetic 
and the most powerful demonstrations of chromatic strength 
which sometimes do not stop at sheer brutality. He is 
typically Norwegian, both in his lyrical feeling and in his 
violence, in his morbid fantasy and his alert and sensitive 
apprehension of reality." 



The Fine Arts in Norway 



159 



If Munch can suggest the atmosphere of the night in the 
open, Ludvig Karsten (1878) is almost as successful in re- 
producing indoor atmosphere in his still life 
Karsten. interiors, his bottles and tables wreathed in 
smoke. Karsten is a disciple of Munch, and 
has delighted his fellow artists of the advanced school by 
character sketches in oil that have some of the psychological 
interest of his master, though without that element of fluidity 
in which Munch' s figures seem to melt into their surroundings. 

The leading portrait painter of these modern radicals is 
Henrik Lund (1879). Historically his portraiture has out- 
stripped the Court fashion represented by 
Lund. Tuxen in Denmark, or even the colourful 
Swedish impressionism of Zorn. Here is colour 
enough, it is true, but with no attempt to approach 
Zorn's pleasing harmonies. Lund's colours clamour from the 
canvas in strident discords. He places his figures against 
blanket backgrounds of creamy white, or of glaring scarlet. 
He concentrates his attention on the sitter as a psychological 
problem, with apparent indifference to the costume, or even 
the position of the hands, which may be almost lost in a 
blur of paint. The gradations of colour, the contours of the 
head, often seem to be sketched rather than finished. He 
paints passionately, with utter truthfulness, as he sees it, in 
an attempt to bring forth not merely the likeness but the 
faithful psychology of his sitter. In this respect, Lund's 
character studies are to portraiture what the short story or 
the lyric poem are to literature, all three to be executed and 
understood at a sitting. Thus, he will carry to the finish a 
lithograph, as he did his sketch of Theodore Roosevelt, while 
his sitter is attending to his correspondence. In the daring 
with which he seizes upon the salient traits of character, 
Lund is, perhaps, the most talented portrait artist that 
Norwa}^ has yet produced. 

Lund was artistic director of the Art Exhibition of the 
American-Scandinavian Society in 1912-13, of which the 



160 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



progressive Norwegian section proved a path-breaker in 
preparing the American public for the far more advanced 

" International Exhibition " of futurist and 
Americ^ cubist paintings which followed in 1913. 

While on this American tour, Lund executed 
several portraits in oil, as well as lithographs, of Americans 
in public life. 

Many of the younger Norwegian artists have either felt 
the influences of Munch directly or studied under kindred 
progressive spirits in France. Thorvald 
Contemporaries. Erichsen (1868), in his landscapes, shows a 
more delicate sentiment for colours than 
many of his contemporaries. Soren Onsager (1878) excels 
in figure painting, and his favourite themes are young girls 
asleep, or in the act of adorning themselves. Arne Kavli 
(1878) has obtained vague Whistleresque effects in his land- 
scapes, and has also experimented with the violet gray 
atmospheres of the French progressive Cezanne. O. Wold- 
Torne's (1867) colour sense was stimulated by study under 
Zahrtmann in Copenhagen, and completed later in France. 
Bernard Folkestad (1879) descends from the lofty contem- 
plation of mountains and socialistic problems so typical of 
the intense Norwegian character, to an almost Danish satis- 
faction in more intimate subjects like fruits and flowers, and 
a scene in a poultry yard, which he represents with high 
spirit and colour. The profession of painter, like that of 
physician or banker, is often a family inheritance in the 
North, and the veteran naturalists, Werenskiold and Krohg, 
who were battling for French principles, so startling in the 
'80's, have sons who to-day are just as eager as their fathers 
were to keep abreast of the times. Werenskiold's son, 
Dagfin (1892), has inherited his father's decorative instincts, 
which he applies to wood-carving, especially panels of birds, 
foliage, and flowers, which he first carves and afterwards 
paints with his own hand. Krohg's son, Per (1889), is a 
disciple of Henri-Matisse and an avowed cubist. 



The Fine Arts in Norway 



161 



Nor must we forget the genius Halfdan Egedius (1877-99), 
who died with talent half fulfilled on the threshold of manhood. 

There is at least one living Norwegian painter who, like 
Einar Nielsen in Denmark, has asserted his individuality by 
keeping quite aloof from the triumphant 
Sohlberg. modern movement. Harald Sohlberg (1869), 
like Nielsen, draws his inspiration from early 
Italian art, but, unlike the Danish artist, he manifests a 
Norwegian's fondness for strong colour, in his case, unusually 
refined. He paints with that scrupulous exactitude which 
does not omit the tiniest grass blades and flowers. He is 
said conscientiously to devote an entire year to one single 
modest work of art. Among his most successful productions 
are his studies of the remote village of Roros, where he now 
lives in comparative isolation, and where he loves to paint 
the clustering red cottages in drifts of snow. 

In the '90's, Sohlberg was leader of a small circle of Chris- 
tiania artists known as " the new romanticists/ ' Since that 
time the lyric quality of his brush-work has become more and 
more evident, a quality that is not met elsewhere in con- 
temporary Scandinavian painting, except in the Swedish 
landscapes of Prince Eugen. Sohlberg' s " Fisherman's 
Cottage " expresses the calmness and pensive note of an open 
fjord, seen through towering spruces in the evening gloom. 
His " Mountains " discloses the domed peaks of the Rondane, 
snow-capped, viewed across a broad night landscape of 
timber lands, while a bright central star, set between the 
elbows of the mountains, gives a tinge of mysticism, a note 
of— 

The devotion to something afar 
From the sphere of our sorrow. 

In the domain of sculpture, the most brilliant Norwegian 
of the present time is Gustav Vigeland (1869). 
Sculpture. His themes have little in common with old 
Northern tradition. He is an independent 
genius with a certain kinship to Rodin, Like Munch, 



162 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Vigeland has tremendous creative power and fierce energy. 
He aspires to heroic sizes. He has executed several series 

of sculptures, one, a sequence of busts of 
Vigeland. authors, and another of allegorical representa- 
tions of the relations of the sexes. Many of the 
sculptures used in the restoration of Trondhjem Cathedral 
are by Vigeland. For several years the artistic world of 
Christiania has been in dispute over the appropriateness of a 
colossal fountain, which Vigeland has designed for that city. 
His most famous relief is entitled " Hell/' 

Stephan Sinding (1846) was, in 1890, naturalised in Denmark, 
where his work won the admiration, among many others, of 

Dr. Carl Jacobsen, who purchased several of 
Sinding. his marble statues for the New Carlsberg 

Glypthothek. Sinding designed the colossal 
bronze statues of Ibsen and Bjornson which stand in front of 
the National Theatre in Christiania, and also the statue of 
Ole Bull in Bergen. 

In architecture, the most distinctive survivals from the 
Middle Ages in Norway are the so-called "stave" churches, 

tepee-like structures, built of wooden staves, 
Architecture, rising roof above roof. In a fair state of 

preservation, 23 of these curious buildings 
are standing to-day, dating from the eleventh and subsequent 
centuries. Often the square timbered belfry is built separate 
from but close to the church proper. 

The stave church is not duplicated in other countries. 
Antiquaries have sought to find in it traces of the influence 

of Russian or Italian church architecture, of 
Churches ^ e Anglo-Saxon or the Irish ; but why 

refuse Norway the credit of originality ? 
Stave churches often contain elaborate wood carvings which 
have served as models for modern Norwegian decoration, 
whether in stone, wood, or mural painting. This is especially 
true of the church of Urnaes, on the Sogne Fjord, one of the 
earliest existing stave structures, with its intricate animal and 



The Fine Arts in Norway 163 



vegetable motives, reminiscent of early Irish decoration. 
Norway is rich also in timber farm-houses, ancient specimens 
of which are preserved in the open-air museums of Bygdo 
and Maihaugen. 

The ecclesiastical stone structures of Norway from the 
Middle Ages are adaptations of the Norman romanesque style 
of architecture, or the Gothic, imported from 
N °Gothic and En g land - Several Norwegian monasteries 
were founded by English monks, and, in 
certain known cases, the abbots themselves were Englishmen. 
Trondhjem Cathedral, where Norway's new King was crowned 
in 1905, following ancient precedent, exhibits the successive 
stages of architectural development. Originally simple Norman 
in type, it was continued in more ornate Gothic under the 
direction of Archbishop Eystein, who, in 1183, returned to 
Norway after three years' residence in England. Precisely 
at that time the French architect, Guillaume de Sens, was 
building the first Gothic structure in England, the eastern 
portion of Canterbury Cathedral. Trondhjem Cathedral is 
modelled after Canterbury, and the celebrated " octagon " 
at Trondhjem is a variation of " Becket's Crown/' At the 
present time, the nave of Trondhjem, razed long since by 
fire and war, is being restored carefully in " Early English 
Style," supported by public and popular subscription. The 
old Norway and the new are nowhere else so closely united as 
at Trondhjem in the old choir, where one can hear the continual 
" anvil chorus " of restoration. 

Contemporary Norwegian architects have yet to evolve a 
style of architecture equal in impressiveness to those of 
Nyrop in Denmark, or Boberg in Sweden. 
Bull. There are, however, evidences of advance- 
ment, and a predilection for the massive and 
imposing, a style inspired, perhaps, by the mountainous 
nature of the country. Representative of traditional types 
are the interiors of several of the modern tourist hotels, like 
that of Voksenkollen, heavy beams and dragon ornamentation. 



164 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 

Among worthy architects of the last generation may be 
mentioned Henrik Bull (1864), who designed the National 
Theatre in Christiania, and the buildings of the Centennial 
Exposition in 1914. 

As talented as any architect in Norway is John A. Gade, 
of New York, an American citizen whose father was Nor- 
wegian. He furnished the designs for several 
Gade. Norwegian Lutheran churches in America, 
and notably the splendid edifice planned for 
Minneapolis. Gade is the architect of the Rochester Art 
Gallery, and of various town and country residences in and 
about New York City. His work shows occasional traces of Nor- 
wegian timber motives, but more often renaissance themes from 
Spain and other lands, and, above all, a graceful originality. 

Cottage tapestry weaving has never become quite extinct 
on the Norwegian farms, and, of late, interest in tapestries 
has revived, due, in part, to the designs of 
Chtna St and ^ e artists and especially Munthe. They 
Jewellery. nn( ^ an accomplished weaver in Frau Frida 
Hansen, whose striking tapestry from 
Munthe' s design portraying the entrance of King Sigurd, the 
Norse Crusader, into Jerusalem, won the gold medal at the 
Paris Exposition of 1900. The painter, O. Wold-Torne, is 
also a craftsman and designer of tapestry, book-covers, and 
pottery ; while the painter Thorolf Holmboe has decorated 
Porsgrund china with furry white polar bears on a blue 
background, and other motifs suggestive of Norway. The 
Porsgrund ware, christened after the town of that name, was 
established in 1887, and has already attained a transparent 
delicacy of finish which promises at some day to rival that of 
Royal Copenhagen Porcelain. In jewellery, also, the enamel 
work of the house of Tostrup won the Grand Prix at 
the Paris Exposition in 1900. This firm has been developed 
by the genius of its director, the architect, Thorolf Prytz, who 
was, in 1914, chairman of the committee for the Norwegian 
Centennial Exposition at Christiania. 



The Fine Arts in Norway 165 



More than in any other art except letters, Norway has 
achieved distinction for her music. The 
Music. names of Ole Bull and Grieg are famed in 
every country that knows of Ibsen and 

Bjornson. 

Ole Bull (1810-80), the great violin virtuoso, was born at 
Bergen, seaport of the West Coast. In the valleys of western 
Norway, since saga time, the recitation of 
j^jjj fairy tales has been interspersed with the 
music that accompanied ballad and dance, as 
well as other wild strains from the mountains, perpetuated by 
fiddle and flute. These Ole Bull seized and re-fashioned by 
the magic of his violin to the delight of two continents. 

Of composers from the middle of the last century, Norway 
may well be proud of Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-69), called " the 
father of Norwegian song " ; of Ludvig 
Composers Lindeman (1812-87), who by zealously collect- 
ing folk songs and psalm chants laid a 
foundation for a national style of music ; of Richard Nordraak 
(1842-66), Bjornson' s cousin, who composed the music for 
the latter' s national song — " Yes, we love this land that 
towers " ; and Johan Svendsen (1840-1912), whose great 
symphonies added a lucid and elegant style to the treatment 
of native themes. 

The work of the pioneers was brought to a culmination and 
glorified by the talent of Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), like Bull, 
a native of Bergen. Grieg combined in his 
Grieg. score the melody of the farm and the refine- 
ment of the city. In his orchestra suites he 
was associated with both Bjornson and Ibsen ; he supplied 
the spirited music to the words of Bjornson in Olaf Tryggvason, 
while " Solveig's Song " and the accompanying suites are 
based upon Ibsen's great metrical drama, Peer Gynt. To the 
native music of fjord and mountain dell Greig's composition 
bears much the same relation as Andersen's Fairy Tales 
and Munthe's imaginative colour legends to genuine folk 



166 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



recitations. It has been questioned abroad whether they are 
typically Norwegian, the criticism being that Grieg's expres- 
sion is too airy and delicate to be a true interpretation of the 
sombre and often heavy character of Norwegian people and 
landscape. The answer is that the fairy melodies and folk 
tales that cling to mountain crags are often more evanescent 
in their imagery than those that grow up among primitive 
people who live on flat and fertile plains ; also that Grieg's 
sharp and sudden changes are characteristic of the abruptness 
of mountain precipice, green farm-land, and blue, smiling 
fjord. The intense underlying sentiment and subjectivity of 
Grieg's musical composition is also a natural reflection of the 
Norwegian temperament. 

Quite another aspect of this Norwegian temper is that 
represented by Christian Sinding (1856), brother of the 
sculptor. He has less interest in peasant 
Sinding. melodies, but his sinewy, robust composition 
reflects Norse vigour and individualism. If 
at times he is over fond of brass instruments and tends 
toward noise and brutality, he is forgiven because of the 
strong, heroic quality of the whole. Sinding is a disciple of 
Wagner. He has composed a variety of symphonies, operas, 
or orchestrations, and nearly two hundred songs. His famous 
quintet for the piano has earned a place beside Grieg's piano 
concerto as a piece for standard performance. In 1910 
Sinding directed his own compositions in places as remote as 
Brighton and Odessa. 

Among other recent composers are Agathe Grondahl 
(1847-1908), Ole Olsen (1851), Johan Halvorsen (1864), 
Hjalmar Borgstrom (1864), and Sigurd Lie (1871-1904). 
Borgstrom has come under the influence of modern French 
impressionism and corresponds historically to Munch in 
painting and Vigeland in sculpture. 

Of Norway's sister countries, Denmark has, perhaps, won the 
laurels in sculpture and ceramics, and Sweden in painting ; but 
to Norway must be conceded the palm for musical composition. 



CHAPTER XIV 



ON SKI 

Ski-ing, that has in recent years become a favourite winter 
sport of many peoples, is in Norway more than an art and a 

pastime. During the long reign of snow, 
Acquirement. s ^ s cons titute a practical means for the 

farmer to go about from sheepfold to cattle- 
shed ; for his wife to run across the frozen fields to market. 
Ski-ing is identified with the nation's life, the nation's health. 
On skates, also, the Norsemen are brilliant performers ; 
Oscar Mathiesen holds the world's records for distances long 
and short. But the abundant snow buries the ice so deep 
that many never put on their skates for a whole winter. 
Skis, on the other hand, may be bound on the feet with the 
snow-falls of November and used until after Easter. On the 
high mountain ranges and the glaciers, where the snow never 
melts, it is possible to enjoy the sport, at staa pact ski, " to go 
on ski" — pronounced " shee " in Norway — the entire year 
round. 

The origin of ski-ing is lost in remote antiquity. The 
historian Procopius, in the sixth century, 

T o^%Sng y s P eaks of the " Skrid-Finns," meaning, 

probably, " Finns who run on ski." 
In its native land, ski-ing is considered to be the King of 
Sports, the most stimulating and exhilarating exercise known 
to men. Indeed, kings have prided them- 
for Kings se l ves upon their agility on skis. In the 
Heiniskringla, or " History of the Kings' 
Lives of Norway," written by the Icelander Snorri Sturluson, 
in the thirteenth century, is an account of a flyting, or debate, 
that took place at a banquet, between the joint rulers of 
Norway, Sigurd the Crusader, and his brother Eystein. Each 

167 

12— (2384) 



168 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



reviewed his achievements in war and peace from the days 
of his youth. They vaunted their proficiency in bending 
the bow, in performing aquatic feats and in racing on the ice, 
Sigurd claiming the advantage as to all sports that required 
brute strength, and Eystein in all that demanded skill and 
deftness. 

" Thou wilt remember when we were boys together, how 
I could duck thee in the water whenever I desired," said 
Sigurd. 

" Yes," Eystein replied, " but on skis, I was much better 
than thou, and that has since aforetime been called a peerless 
sport/ ' 

In non-Norwegian minds, there is often confusion as to 
w T hat constitutes this " peerless sport." Skis are sometimes 

confused with Canadian snow-shoes. In 
" At staa reality they are quite unlike them. A pair 

of skis consists of two narrow strips of board, 
some seven feet long, cut preferably from the strong but 
flexible ash. At the middle, under the foot, they are five 
inches wide and an inch thick, but they taper and thin toward 
the front, where the points curve slightly upward. About 
the middle are straps which fasten securely to the feet. The 
movement of running on ski is a gliding, swinging motion, 
somewhat like skating. A " dog trot " as fast as that 
employed in hare and hounds may be maintained on the 
level. On the down grades, the feet are held together, the 
skis parallel, the body balanced. Here, speed may be made 
equal to that of an express train. Climbing a hill is more 
laborious and is accomplished by stepping sideways or criss- 
cross, thus making a stairway in the snow. 

As there are few level stretches in Norway, ski-ing long 
distances consists for the most part of exciting descents, 

followed by long, leisurely climbs. Besides 
Country ^ e ^ nnn ^ e vai *i e ty 01 movement, there is a 

fascination of constantly changing landscape ; 
now a broad outlook on peak and plain, now a sudden vista 



On Ski 



169 



between valley walls, now a steep descent wooded with spruce 
so dense that the branches whip the face of the ski-er. The 
quick breathing of ozone-charged air is conducive to perfect 
health, and the solar heat, intense even in zero weather, 
together with glare and reflection of the snow, bronzes the 
smiling faces of the hardy Norwegians to an almost tropical 
copper hue. 

On the highest mountain behind the city of Christiania 
stands the tourist hotel of Voksenkollen. On one side it 

looks over the wilderness of hills and conifers 
Voksenkollen. that in winter serves as a health-giving 

natural park, and, on the other, over the 
city itself and the fjord stretching south to the sea. When 
this long structure perched on the edge of the precipice is 
illuminated with its hundreds of lights, it seems to the dwellers 
in the valley below more like a palace than a hostel, and they 
have named it Soria Moria Castle, after the castle in the 
Norwegian fairy tale — that stood " East o' the sun and west 
o* the moon." Here, in the season, come the princes of 
Norwegian ski-ing sport. Here come foreign lovers of ski, 
from Sweden, especially, and also from Finland and Denmark, 
indeed, from England and other lands. Among the latter 
are younger members of the diplomatic corps, who, fine 
sportsmen though many of them are, show up ill beside the 
tall, straight-limbed natives. In the timbered hall of the 
hostel, with its quaint motifs in woodwork modelled after 
mediaeval art, before the blazing logs of the immense fire- 
place, all gather in the evening to discuss the adventures, 
the jumps, and headlong falls of the day, with the health and 
satisfaction of Gods assembled on Olympus. 

Before a Royal Lodge* was built on a mountain ridge not 
far away, King Haakon, Queen Maud, Prince Olav, and 

all their Court, were annual guests at Voksen- 
Sportsmen kollen. While trying to identify himself with 

the new land over which he was called to rule 
in 1905, the Danish Prince has won all hearts by his ardent 



170 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



devotion to the national sport of his adopted people. His 
English wife, also, has pluckily followed him on ski, coached 
and encouraged by her Norse ladies-in-waiting. Formerly, it 
was possible to see her on a hillside in the woods attempting 
to make a difficult jump on ski, falling at first, only to 
persist with spirit until she could reach the bottom without 
mishap. 

From the time he could walk, Crown Prince Olav was 

taught at staa pact, ski — " to run on skis." As a tiny fellow he 

was taken out by expert officers of the Army, 

Cro ^J? into the forest below Voksenkollen, where he 
rrince Ulav. . 

learned to jump small obstacles and to 
perform an abrupt turn called the " Telemark " swing. 
Nothing contributed more to the popularity of the Royal 
Family than post card photographs of Prince Olav on ski 
among snow-laden spruce boughs, which were sold the length 
and breadth of Norway, as well as abroad. 

The Norwegians appreciate the efforts of foreigners to learn 
to staa fiaa ski, for they realise how difficult must be the art 

for those who are not, like the natives, almost 
Foreigners literall Y> " born with skis on their feet." 

They particularly admired the courage, some 
years since, of an English military attache who broke his arm 
twice, and so weakened it that he was obliged, the third 
season, to wear it in a steel frame. 

Besides acquiring the skill to avoid the more obvious 
dangers, one must learn also how to fall without injury into 
the deep, yielding snow of March. No matter if the skis are 
entangled in the boughs overhead ! To extricate them is an 
easy affair, and affords infinite diversion to other members 
of the party who come to the unfortunate's assistance. 
Av vei I is the cry to clear the track — " out of the way." 

Its use is universal by King or servant, for all 
" Av vei ! 99 are equal on the ski trail ; the danger is 

always imminent ; and there is need of 
alertness and instant decision. 




<0 



Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

H.M. HAAKON VII 



On Ski 



171 



The roads to Voksenkollen from Christiania abound in 
hotels and sanatoria, and here and there in the forest are 

stations where coffee and light refreshments 
SkMand are serve( ^ *° those who come on ski. For 

miles upon miles the woods are filled with 
trails and cross trails. It is far easier to ski on a trail worn 
as smooth as rails than to break a new path over virgin snow. 
These ski paths often lead through dense woods, until suddenly 
the skier realises that a swift drop is beginning ; then he must 
cry Av vei I and seek to keep his balance as he swings about 
the curves in the serpentine descent, until, all at once, at 
dizzy speed, he comes out on a flat plateau, or a shelf of the 
mountain, with an expanse of snow and forest beyond. 

All Christiania on the Sunday seems to take to the hills 
" whence cometh their help and their salvation/' Shop 

girls and errand boys, gray-haired professors, 
Sabbath anc ^ school-girls, strap their skis outside 

the tram-car that runs from Christiania to 
Holmenkollen and get out at one of the stations up the 
mountain slope. The ascending car bristling with skis and 
sleds resembles a porcupine. 

One of the glories of Norwegian sport is its democracy. 
Every one may run on ski, and those who excel come from 

every occupation in life, and may be men or 
on°Skr women, young or old. On certain hillsides, 

the children of Christiania engage in practising 
the jump, over small obstacles ; here the future winners of 
the Holmenkollen leap receive their first training. Norwegian 
girls on the ski trails, clad in bright costumes, with faces 
even more bright, furnish an equally stimulating sight. The 
comradeship between the sexes in the winter season resembles 
that of America. A young man and a young woman may, 
unchaperoned, go speeding off through the fir forest for a 
day together. 

An amusement which often serves as relaxation from ski-ing 
is coasting on a small Norwegian sled or kjelke. These sleds 



172 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



seat two and are steered by a long pole held under the arm, 
and left trailing on the snow behind. With this pole, a 

Christiania girl can steer a kjelke at lightning 
" Kjelke * ' s P ee d down the winding ways known as " Hell 

Swing " and " The Corkscrew/' or along the 
edge of a precipice where one false turn would send the 
occupants of the sled into eternity. At night processions of 
these small sleds, the passenger in front of each kjelke carrying 
a blazing knot of pitch-pine and shrieking a vei ! a vei ! at 
the top of his lungs, descend in fakkeltog, or " torchlight 
procession/' the hills about Christiania, sometimes for several 
miles without a halt. 

These winter scenes in the vicinity of the capital are 
enacted on a smaller scale in all parts of Norway. Every 

small town has its " tourist hut " on the 

In the mountain above it, where skiers may take 
Mountains. ' J , 

shelter. At Fmse and at Fefor are stations 

in the high mountains whither the sportsmen may retire in 

April, when the snow begins to melt in the valleys. There 

are other stations more primitive, far up in the mountain 

hollows, which the adventurous make their headquarters for 

thrilling experiences on the steep, wide slopes of mountains 

and glaciers. At Finse, there is an annual ski run on 24th 

June, Midsummer Day. 

Another form of ski sport consists in being drawn on ski 

behind a fast horse. This is a method practised much in the 

Army, for Norwegian soldiers are required 
^ainhig to proficient on ski. In the winter 

manoeuvres near Christiania, ski-cavalry 
appear in spectacular action, one horseman drawing behind 
him three ski-runners, who are attached to the horse by 
straps hanging from the saddle. Across the snow-covered 
ice they charge the forts on the bluff in the face of fire. In 
the melee, many of the ski-runners inevitably lose their 
footing, and thus give the appearance of being shot by the 
guns. Norwegian officers have instructed ski corps in the 



On Ski 



173 



armies of several countries. In the winter campaign of 1914, 

in the Vosges mountains there was fighting between French 

and German troops on ski. 

The great event of the year in the sporting world of Norway 

is the annual meet on the hill of Holmenkollen, some six 

miles from Christiania. This " Ski-ing Derby" 

TT , The „ was formerly held in February, but of recent 
Holmenkollen , . , , i P „ f , 

Leap. years, when the heavy snow has iallen later, 

the sports have sometimes been postponed 

until March. The events include long distance races across 

the hills. Probably no long run has been excelled by that of 

the Lapp who made 138 miles in 21 hours and 22 minutes. 

The important contest is the Holmenkollen Leap. On the 

appointed day the champion jumpers of Norway compete, 

and he who wins the laurels is as much a national hero as was 

the victor in the Olympic Games of old. The jumps are made 

off a ledge on the steep hillside. The jumper speeds through 

the air like a bird, over the heads of the spectators. He lands 

on his feet, bending his knees. Usually he falls, and the 

jump is not recorded. He is then given two more trials. 

If on landing he succeeds in keeping his feet and glides 

triumphantly down the slope, the distance from the foot of 

the ledge is measured. Sometimes it exceeds 130 feet. 

It is estimated that as many as 40,000 spectators go out 

from Christiania to see the Holmenkollen Leap. Only 

10,000 can be transported on sledges and 

NorwTian wheels - The other 30 > 000 walk - From ten 
Derby. until one the roads up to Holmenkollen are 
filled with jolly holiday makers y separating 
continually from right and left to allow the passage of a 
sleigh. It is like the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas 
Becket at Canterbury in the merry days of Chaucer. 

On the hill are tiers of boxes on either side of the course, 
from the jumping ledge down to the plain, where stand 
thousands of the proletariat, who need pay no admission fee 
to witness this most democratic of athletic contests. In the 



174 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



topmost box sits the Royal Family. King Haakon, however, 
leaves the box to go down and mingle freely with the crowds 
below, talking with them about the respective merits of the 
contestants. 

Some years ago, the first Frenchman competed in the 
Holmenkollen Leap. He had been trained in the Alps. 

The crowd, appreciating both his pluck and 
Contestant ^ s com pli men ^ to Norway's national sport, 
cheered him vociferously at his every attempt, 
while the band interrupted a Norwegian anthem to break 
into the martial strains of the Marseillaise. As teachers, 
Norwegians have organised the sport of ski-ing in the Swiss 
Alps and practically every country of Europe. 

On the road to Holmenkollen, the writer once fell into 
conversation with a clerk who had left his desk at three in 
the afternoon for a ski run. The discussion 

and^HealS turne( l upon the respective advantages of 
American prosperity and Norwegian sim- 
plicity, health, and comfort. " My salary/' said the clerk, 
" barely enables me to live, but if my employer said to me, 
' Abandon your ski tours, and work until six in the evening, 
and I will double your salary/ I would reply, ' Why sell my 
health and happiness for luxuries which I would never learn 
to appreciate ? ' " 

This great-hearted love of freedom and devotion to the 
out-of-doors are directly responsible for the superb health 
of the Norwegian people. As a whole, they are not given to 
the mechanical drilling of muscles, like the Swedes and the 
Germans, nor do they bathe so scrupulously as the English 
and the Americans, but they regard the sturdy life of the 
open as a patriotic privilege and duty, and take a special 
pride in contributing healthy bodies to the womanhood and 
the manhood of the nation. 



CHAPTER XV 



MOUNTAIN, VALLEY AND FJORD 

The Galdhopig, standing with its broad shoulders in the 
midst of Jotunheim, is the highest mountain in Northern 

Europe. From its snow-clad summit can 
The peak heSt ^ e se en nothing but a sea of peaks, stretching 

north, east, south, and west; a chaos of 
" horns " that pierce through wreaths of cloud, of jagged 
ridges that loom jet-black out of glassy glaciers, and of snow- 
covered domes that stand white — " like a maiden's soul," 
as Nansen expressed it — against the blue sky. The valleys, 
what little can be seen of them, show nothing but gray 
boulders. There is no green thing. Although the Galdhopig 
is only 8,400 feet in height, and many of the valleys about it 
are deep and precipitous, the latitude is so high that there is 
no forest to vary the landscape, as in the Swiss Alps. The 
severity of this wilderness, indeed, suggests chaos before 
creation, as described in the myths of the Elder Edda : " there 
was a yawning of chasms, and grass nowhere/' In memory 
of the old mythology, this mountain region has been christened 
" Jotunheim " — " the region of Jotuns or giants " ; and the 
uncouth names of the grim peaks are suggestive of hoary 
eld — such, for example, as Galdhopig, Glittertind, Memuru- 
tinder, Nautgarstind, Fanaraak, Gokkeraxlen, Troldstejnshoer, 
and Skagastolstind. 

Bjornstjerne Bjornson, the giant poet and orator, boasted 
that he had nine times climbed the Galdhopig. On the ridge, 

two hours below the summit, is a tourist 
Mountekfeers. house > the Juvashytte, stocked with twenty 

beds, and presided over by the guide, Knud 
Vole, or his son. During the height of the tourist season, in 

175 



176 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 

July and early August, this shelter is often crowded — usually 
with Norwegians, — for the difficulty of the tramp by forced 
marches over stony wastes to the Galdhopig protects the 
mountain from foreign invasion. The ascent, however, 
presents no insurmountable difficulties, even to women, 
In fact, while travelling in Jotunheim, it is not unusual to 
meet parties of two or three young women, out for their 
vacation, setting forth at six in the morning, with sandwiches 
in their knapsacks, and sharing, after night-fall, the pot -luck 
of the first indifferent tourist hut. As might be expected, 
the Norwegians are ardent mountaineers. The University 
student recalls with affection the sharp edge of the tind or 
horn, up the face of which he has climbed hand over hand. 
The long tramp and physical contact with the unyielding 
rocks, year in and year out, in these invigorating altitudes, 
contribute to Spartan hardihood, to healthy spareness of 
body, and sound nerves and digestion. In fact, by the time 
a foreigner has reached the top of the Galdhopig he feels as 
stalwart as a Norwegian, and the hardships of the descent 
have no terrors for him. 

To return to civilisation from this summit of all Scandinavia, 
the tourist has the choice of various routes. One leads north 
over the Dovre Mountains ; a second west 

A "Saeter." to the Sogne Fjord; a third east to 
Gudbrandsdal ; a fourth south into the 
Valley of Valdres. By taking the last route, a three hour 
descent brings the mountain climber to Spiterstulen, 3,710 
feet high, where he may obtain food and shelter. It is a 
saeter, the highest one in the valley of Visdal. A saeter is a 
characteristic institution. It is a summer, or out-farm, 
consisting usually of a hut, with cattle-shed and outlying 
pastures. The building wood is brought up from the valley, 
the roof is covered with sods. Saeters may be found among 
the hills and on the mountain slopes of Norway wherever 
there is a patch of grass for the cows and goats to graze 
upon. In June or July the exodus from the home farm in 



Mountain, Valley and Fjord 177 



the valley begins. The cows are driven up from the farm, 
sometimes by a solitary dairymaid : for Norwegian women 
feel their persons as secure in the mountains as the pocket- 
books that they leave unprotected on the parlour tables. 
The saeter maid tends her cows, milks them, and makes 
cheese. Her cheeses she takes back with her in September, 
when she drives her flocks for the winter down to the home 
farm, which may be ten, or even fifty miles away. 

At all saeters and wayside-inns, the guest is regaled with 
goat's cheese — gjetost, or mysost, a substitute made of cow's 

milk. Gjetost does not look like or taste 
Chees* ^ e other cheese. In appearance it resembles 

brown soap, and its sweet flavour, as an 
unappreciative Englishman expressed it, " tastes as goats 
smell/' To those who like it spread on thin, dry " flat " 
bread, it provides a palatable and wholesome diet. The 
fondness for goat's cheese perhaps accounts for the fact that 
the goat seems to be, if possible, more omnipresent than in 
other countries. This solemn-eyed animal, with his long, 
shaggy beard, seems unusually solemn in Norway when he 
accosts the traveller on a lonely path and insists on accom- 
panying him. The writer has seen " Sir Billie " on the roof 
of a saeter, complacently devouring the sods, and, on one 
occasion, at a railroad station in the Osterdal, he saw the 
passengers alarmed by the violent ringing of the station bell, 
caused by a goat gnawing the rope. 

A half-day of vigorous clambering over boulders south 
from Spiterstulen, over a trail indicated by heaps of stone, 

called Varder, will bring the wanderer to the 
A Lake tain tourist house of Gjendeboden, at the western 

end of Lake Gjende. This narrow lake, ten 
miles long, and at its widest only a mile across, is lifted high 
among the mountains, at an elevation of 3,210 feet, while 
the abrupt mountain walls that enfold it rise to more than 
twice that height. The lake is said to have been discovered 
by a solitary hunter, John Gjende, who built his lodge on 



178 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



its shores. Into its waters plunged, in the imagination of a 
Norwegian youth, the buck described in the memorable 
passage in the opening act of Ibsen s Peer Gynt — 

Have you ever 

Chanced to see the Gendin-Edge ? 
Nigh on four miles long it stretches 

Sharp before you like a scythe, 
Down o'er glaciers, landslips, screes ; 

Down the toppling grey moraines, 
You can see, both right and left, 

Straight into the tarns that slumber 
Black and sluggish, more than seven 

Hundred fathoms deep below you. 

At the tourist hut of Gjendebod are blankets and beds for 
twenty, maintained by the Norwegian Tourist Association, 

which cares for similar stations at intervals 
R fteak er °* a day's marc h * n the mountains of Jotun- 

heim. Members have the preference, but 
all are welcome as far as the accommodation will go. Supper 
at Gjendebod includes, of course, the inevitable mysost 
and flat bread, but also broiled mountain lake trout, Nor- 
wegian grouse, and wild reindeer steak — a repast to gladden 
the hungry heart of any mountaineer. Vegetables, save 
potatoes, are rare in the mountains, and scarcely any " tame " 
meat is imported, excepting canned " fish pudding," a delicious 
food from the west coast. 

Before the hearth, if the month is early September, the 
tourist will find a group of reindeer hunters, recounting the 

adventures of the day up on the rocky fells, 
Hunting. when their rifles cracked in vain at the deer 

fleeing a hundred yards away over the rocks. 
They will complain that the season lasts only from the 1st 
to the 14th of September, and wonder how in these two short 
weeks from 500 to 1,000 wild reindeer are shot on the 
mountains. 

The rype is the most common game bird. It is a cousin of 
the grouse. This bird is found in such abundance that it is 



Mountain, Valley and Fjord 179 



not considered an article of luxury, but its delicious meat 

is highly prized by foreigners. The knapsack 

Rype. so generally carried by mountain climbers 

is popularly called a rype-sa.ck. 

There are other kinds of wild game. Trout fishing attracts 

hundreds of Englishmen to the west coast, where some of them 

have leased preserves. About fifty bears are killed annually, 

and a thousand elk. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, 

the elk, both the horns and the living beast, was a favourite 

present of the Norwegian Kings to the Kings of England. 

On the way home from the mountains, when one leaves 

the snow and the naked rocks, the first zone of green things 

encountered consists of moss and lichen ; 

#- The ?tf- st then the heather that brushes one's knee, 
Green Thing. . e tin 

then the girdle of pasture land, where cow 

bells give warning of the approach to civilisation, and stray 

sheep leap about, while juicy berries, like the kraekebaer and 

the blueberry, tempt the wanderer to tarry. On the descent 

beyond this " cow line," the first trees appear, the birch at 

an altitude of 3,000 feet, and, 500 feet further down, the fir 

that gradually deepens into a sheltering forest. 

The sparse trees which clothe the lower walls of Lake 

Gjende are for the most part scanty birch. On the next 

day's journey, the mountaineer approaching 
Forests Valdres slowly reaches a region of shadowing 

fir and spruce. Three-fifths of the surface 
of Norway consists of bare mountains. One-fifth is covered 
by forests, and their area — approximately that of Ireland — is 
eight times that of agricultural soil. The fir and the 
spruce are far the most numerous and valuable trees. They 
form about 75 per cent, of the forests, the rest being chiefly 
birch. The vast tracks of forest, however, are not found in 
Jotunheim and Valdres, but in the south-eastern part of 
the country, in the Osterdal, where the logs are floated into 
the tributaries of the river Glommen. After agriculture and 
industry, which take first and second place as sources of 



180 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



national wealth, the forests occupy the third position. In 
1909, the director of forests estimated their total value at 
570,000,000 kroner, or one-fourth the national wealth. 

When the traveller from Galdhopig at length reaches the 
valley of the Valdres, after a journey of two days over 
mountain passes and lakes from Lake Gjende, 

^fghVoad? 6 he finds mmself on one of those su P erb 
posting roads that are the pride of Norwegian 

engineers, along which he must proceed for fifty miles to the 

nearest railroad station at Fagernaes. Travelling in western 

Norway has not yet lost the charms of posting life familiar 

to us in Merry England in the novels of Fielding and Scott. 

At distances of from six to fifteen miles along the high roads 

are officially accredited skydsstationer, or posting stations. 

The favourite vehicle is the so-called stolkjaerre, a light cart 

large enough for driver and two passengers. The driver 

is the gut, a postboy, or even the jente, a Norse lassie, who 

perches herself, in the more primitive gigs, on the baggage 

strapped to the back of the cart, and drives with rope for 

reins. The fares are moderate. The stations which usually 

serve as hostels are nothing more than large farm-houses, where 

the traveller may, if he likes, remain for several days and share 

in the work of the farm, even to the milking and the haying. 

Nothing better illustrates the thrift of the Norwegian 

people than the way in which they wrest a living from the 

green stretches of their narrow valleys. 

the^ivlst 0utside of the forest land » onl y 4 ? P er cent - 
of the country is suitable for agriculture, 

and only 2\ per cent, is actually cultivated : *80 per cent, for 

ploughed fields, 1*60 per cent, for meadow — an astonishingly 

meagre condition when we consider that in the sister country, 

Denmark, the land of co-operative butter, bacon, and eggs, 

not less than 73 per cent, of the soil is under cultivation. In 

fact, in respect to the proportion of arable soil, Norway 

is under a greater handicap than any other country in Europe. 

The area of her grain fields is less than half that of perpetual 



Mountain, Valley and Fjord 181 



snow and ice. Yet agriculture remains to-day, as it has been 
since time immemorial, above fisheries, even, and shipping, 
the chief means of subsistence. In 1900, 43| per cent, of the 
population were engaged in agriculture — a proportion, it is 
true, which had decreased from 83*6 in 1801, and will probably 
continue to fall with the rise of industry. During the first 
decade of the century, the average annual value of field 
products was estimated at more than 200,000,000 kroner, or 
about 60,000,000 in crops and 140,000,000 in live-stock. 

Of cereals, oats takes the lead, with a yield of about 
9,500,000 bushels ; barley is second, rye third, and wheat 

fourth. For bread, rye is preferred to wheat 
Crops. in Norway as well as in the other Scandinavian 

countries. The only vegetable grown to any 
extent is the potato, the annual yield of which is estimated at 
about 23,200,000 bushels. 

The hay crop, grazing and dairy products are of far greater 
importance than the yield of the ploughed fields. According 

to the census of 1907, Norway possessed 
Grazing. 170,325 horses, 1,027,530 cattle, 991,211 

sheep, 222,717 goats, and 215,163 swine. So 
careful are the farmers of every blade of grass, that often the 
traveller in a remote valley will be astonished to see a bundle 
of hay descending by a pulley along a wire stretching appar- 
ently into the sky, but in reality up to a plot of grass in the 
rocks on the mountain side, jealously clipped once a year. 
In summer, most of the cattle are sent away to the saeters or 
mountain farms, where, at the edge of steep precipices, one 
will see children tethered for safety to stakes while their 
mothers tend the cows. 

A valley farmstead is called a gaard. Usually, the gaard 
has been in the possession of one family for many generations. 

There is a law which provides that, when an 
Ownership es tate passes out of the family possession, it 

can be bought back within three years at a 
stipulated price. Another law guarantees the right of the 



182 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



nearest of kin of the last possessor of a landed property to 
purchase it at a low appraisement. Nine-tenths of the 
farmers own their own properties. This privilege of owner- 
ship, the feeling of independence, the joy of working for 
one's own, contribute to the manliness of the nation. 

The farm-houses are always constructed of wood. Some 
are painted red and provided with gabled roofs. Others are 

stained walnut brown and thatched with 
"Gaard" stT aw. Some are rough hewn and roofed 

with sod. More primitive still is the old 
Rogstue type, with a fireplace in the middle of the floor and 
a hole in the roof for the smoke, a relic of Viking days, found 
rarely now except in the quaint Saetersdal in south-western 
Norway. An intermediate stage is in the room that has a 
fireplace in the corner and beds arranged like cupboards 
along the walls. The modern dwelling has its porcelain 
stoves and iron bedsteads, and usually abandons any claim 
to picturesqueness. 

The ordinary farm is remote from its neighbours, not 
congregated in a village. But some of the gaarde contain 

so many buildings that they seem like 
Farmstead miniature villages. There are farms so large 

that twenty or thirty individuals, sons and 
wives, daughters' husbands, and their married children, even 
distant cousins, together with men-servants and maid- 
servants, live under the protection of one pater familias. 
The place supplies practically all the necessaries of life. 
There is, perhaps, a smithy attached to the farm, and a weaving 
room. There are even halls for dancing connected with some 
of the large gaarde. Most interesting, probably, is the great 
kitchen, with its huge low beams hung with brass kettles. 
Frequent meals, however frugal ones, break the monotony of 
the day ; in the Osterdal six meals may be distributed as 
follows: 5 a.m., sandwiches and coffee; 7.30, meat; 11, 
dinner ; 1 p.m., coffee ; 4, a light lunch of cheese ; 8, 
supper. 



Mountain, Valley and Fjord 183 



A peculiar feature of these Norwegian farms is a little 
house apart from the main buildings, which serves as granary 

and storehouse. To a stranger this structure 
" Stabbur ' ' su gg es ^ s nothing so much as an Eastern 

temple. It is adorned with all sorts of 
grotesque wood-carvings, and its general construction is, in 
a sense, fan-like. The top story projects over the lower, 
which, in its turn, is broader than the foundation posts. The 
pillars rest on stones in order to keep out the vermin. In the 
upper story is usually stored heap upon heap of wheel-shaped 
flat bread and other grain supplies for the winter ; in the 
lower story are cheeses and smoked bacon and herring. 

Here and there, in Norway, red bodices and other marks of 
ancient national customs still may be seen, particularly the 

kerchief. In general, however, the old manner 
Dress. of picturesque dress has fallen into disuse, 

except in remote Saetersdal, where to this 
day the women wear astonishingly short skirts. 

Instead of seeking an outlet to the great world east through 
the Valdres, one can leave Jotunheim through the Sogne 

Fjord. Valley and fjord are alike in Norway 
Fjords * n ^ e * n S hemmed in by the mountains. In 

one the traveller proceeds by post-chaise or 
on foot, in the other by the little fjord steamers which ply 
ceaselessly up and down the west coast of Norway, in and out 
among islands, summer and winter as well ; for the Gulf 
Stream keeps western Norway open, even in mid-winter, 
when the Osterdal is locked with ice and snow. In summer 
the western fjords are given over to tourists from every 
country and clime. In 1914, just before the outbreak of the 
European War, the German Emperor was visiting the fjords 
for the twenty-sixth season. In 1913, he presented a com- 
memorative statue of Fridtjof the Viking, which stands 
overlooking the Sogne Fjord. The western fjords : the 
Nordfjord, the Sogne Fjord, the Hardanger Fjord, in fact, 
all the watery defiles of the " Land of the Midnight Sun " 

13— (2384) 



184 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



that cut the mountains as far up the coast as the North Cape, 
have each their wild beauty and charm. More often foreign 
tourists know Norway only through this western border. In 
1912, it was estimated that their number reached 59,344, of 
whom 21,733 were English speaking ; and that they added 
21,120,000 kroner to the income of the land. It is agreed 
that there is no scenery more impressive than the narrow 
fjords, passing between snow-crevassed mountain walls, under 
a slit of sky but a shade paler than their own deep waters. 

The average tourist rarely goes far from the fjord steamer. 
Sometimes he will post by stolkjaerre up some lonely valley 
to a farm so hemmed in by mountains that 
Something Afar ^ e inmates can scarcely see the sky, save by 
' lying on their backs. In these farmsteads 
was kindled, in the days of romanticism, that longing for 
something afar : the desire to follow the mountain pass out 
to the great world. There is not a dale that has not sent of 
its youth out to America. Sometimes they come back again 
for a visit, or even to end their days. In the bustle of distant 
cities, they dream of the stern but beautiful life they have 
left behind amid that rugged but inspiring nature, and they 
look back to the old gaard in spirit, if they never actually return. 

It was in such a dale in the Eikisdal that the youthful poet, 
Bjornson, watching the eagle fly over the fells, put into the 
mouth of his boy hero, Arne, his famous expression of 
Wanderlust — 

Wonder I must, what I once may see 

Over the lofty mountains ? 
Eyes shall meet only snow, may be ; 
Standing here, each evergreen tree 

Over the heights is yearning : 

Will it be long in learning ? 

Pinions strong bear the eagle away 

Over the lofty mountains, 
Forth to the young and vigorous day ; 
There he exults in the hunt's wild play, 

Rests, where his spirit orders, — 

Sees all the wide-world's borders. 



CHAPTER XVI 



HARNESSING THE WATERFALLS 

In the summer of 1908, Bjornsterne Bjornson, in one of his 

last public addresses, before the farmers of Gausdal, told the 

tillers of the soil that they need no longer 

Farm and consider themselves the salt of the earth, 
Factory. . ' 

that he who had sung their praises m poem 

and story realised, with tears in his eyes, that their day was 
passing. " The future of Norway," said Bjornson, " like the 
future of all progressive nations, is to be industrial." In the 
public agitation of the agricultural population in favour of 
introducing the peasant language, Landsmaal, Bjornson saw 
a survival of sentimental romanticism, a falling back upon 
antiquity, a symptom of decadence. Similarly, Ibsen, in 
the first part of Peer Gynt, satirised the dreaming idealism 
of rural Norway, boasting of great deeds to be done by 
and by. In the second part of the poem he satirises, in the 
person of Peer returned from America, a sordid materialism, 
with no spark of idealism, with no respect for anything except 
material accomplishments. Peer's transformation has been 
suffered by thousands of Norwegians, who have left their 
saga-land for the land of opportunity across the sea. Now, 
however, instead of this sudden plunge from fancy to fact, 
agriculture and the arts are being developed harmoniously 
by the side of manufactures. A great industrial genius, 
Samuel Eyde, Bjornson's friend, is harnessing the waterfalls, 
building railroads and factory towns, and inviting the ambi- 
tious youth to stay at home and work out his ideals. Eyde 
now occupies a place in the popular imagination corresponding 
to that formerly held by Bjornson and Ibsen. 

Dr. Samuel Eyde was born in Arendal in 1866, and 
graduated with honours from the Technical High School in 

185 



186 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Charlottenburg. He began his career as engineer and chemist 
in Germany. " During several years of working at my 

profession in Germany/' says Dr. Eyde in an 
S Eyde el ess ay on " The Industrial Future of Norway," 

" I came into contact with leading manu- 
facturers there, and had an opportunity to study at 
close range the marvellously rapid industrial development of 
Germany during the last decade of the nineteenth century. 
I paid especial attention to the electro-chemical field, par- 
ticularly to those departments of it needing large quantities 
of water power ; for I realised that my country — with her 
isolated position, her difficult and costly transportation, and 
her sparse population of agriculturalists and seafaring men — 
could compete with the old established industries of other 
countries only through the development of her water power, 
in which she holds a great advantage." 

After his return from Germany, Dr. Eyde devoted himself 
energetically to extending the railroad system of his land. 

Meanwhile, together with Professor Birkeland 

Nit thf e Ai?° m of the Universit Y of Christiania, he was 
experimenting with a process to manufacture 
saltpetre, by releasing nitrogen from the air through charges 
of electricity. Thus, by a comparatively simple method, he 
hoped to replenish the world's nearly exhausted supply of 
fertilizer. 

Birkeland and Eyde constructed a furnace consisting of a 
small circular flame chamber, in which the electric flame, 
playing between two water-cooled copper 
Ughto/ng electrodes, is expanded with the aid of two 
ig ing. p 0wer f u i magnets projecting into the furnace- 
house perpendicularly to the electrodes. This gives a very 
large contact surface between the flame and the air injected 
into the furnace ; and in the high temperature of about 
3,000° Centigrade, the atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen 
combine to form a gas, oxide of nitrogen, which is exhausted 
from the furnace and quickly cooled. After various processes 



Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

SAM. EYDE 



Harnessing the Waterfalls 187 



and chemical changes, the gas is passed through large granite 
towers filled with quartz, against a counter current of water, 
and forms nitric acid. This serves as a basis for the manu- 
facture of a series of nitrogenous products and fertilizers. 
The whole process is as though the atmosphere were scorched 
by continuous flashes of lightning. 

To obtain the electric power for this process, it was impera- 
tive to acquire waterfalls, and Dr. Eyde went about securing 
the necessary capital. After initial experiments, 
H Waterfafls* 116 ^ e & rs t great saltpetre works were opened, 
in 1905, at Notodden, near the south-eastern 
coast. They have now been enlarged to utilise about 
65,000 h.p. Seven hundred workmen were employed there. 
Six transmission lines, each consisting of six cables, convey 
the power to this plant from power stations erected at two 
waterfalls — Lienfos and Svaelgfos — two or three miles away. 
Four years later a much more extensive plant was opened at 
Rjukan, higher up in the district of Telemark, 43 miles from 
Notodden. It obtains its energy from a generating station 
beside the mighty cataract of the Rjukan. This station is 
capable of developing 140,000 h.p., and other plants are 
under construction. 

The basic product of the Notodden and Rjukan factories is 
calcium-nitrate, known to the world of trade as " Norwegian 
saltpetre/' The demand for this fertilizer 

Saltpetre" * ar excee d s ^ ne su PPly- It is said to be as 
effective as the natural saltpetre of Chile, 
and, in fact, the Norwegian product is being shipped past 
the coasts of Chile to the orchards and sugar plantations of 
California and Hawaii. Norwegian saltpetre is now exported 
at the rate of 2,000 barrels a day, or 100,000 tons a year. 
Professor Wagner, of Darmstadt, has found by exhaustive 
tests that for every 100 kilos of this manure an increase of 
250 kilos in the crop of wheat is obtained. Thus, 70,000 tons 
of Norwegian saltpetre, having a value of about 14,000,000 
kroner, will increase the wheat crop by about 80,000,000 



188 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



kroner. The wheat thus obtained will satisfy the normal 
bread requirements of 1,000,000 persons for a year. 

There are three other important electro-chemical products 
of these nitrogen factories : sodium nitrate, 
Chemical a su ^ s ^ ance use( ^ ln colouring ; ammonium 
Products. nitrate, useful for explosives ; and con- 
centrated nitrate acid. 
In 1908, in the deep valley of Rjukan, the only signs of 
human activity were a few humble hayricks ; by 1912, the 
hayricks had been replaced by a solid factory 
A Wand d S anc * a * own °* we U-built cottages — a clean 
town, for there is little smoke about the 
electro-chemical industries. As the labour needs constant 
vigilance, Dr. Eyde often employs former sailors to watch 
the machinery. He began with a plant utilising 25 h.p. ; 
now the combined plants at Rjukan and Notodden use 
200,000 h.p. He began with two labourers and two other 
employees. In 1912, there were 1,340 labourers and 143 
other employees. By providing comfortable homes and 
schools, good sanitation and lighting, hospitals, stores, library, 
club house, and public dancing hall, Dr. Eyde expects to 
keep his employees prosperous and happy. 

To secure capital sufficient for these operations, it was 
necessary to go outside of Norway. The Swedish bankers, 
Messrs. Wallenberg, were generously helpful 

Capita? at t ^ ie start > most °* ca pi ta l has been 
secured in France, through the Banque de 
Paris and the Societe Generale. The various operating com- 
panies are subsidiaries of one grand corporation, with offices in 
Christiania, called the Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk Kvaelstof- 
Aktieselskab, of which Dr. Eyde is general manager. In 
1913, this company had a capital of 42,630,660 kroner, and 
declared 8 per cent, on its preferred and 6 per cent, on its 
common stock. The capitalisation was being rapidly ex- 
panded ; it was estimated that by 1916 the " Norsk Hydro " 
and its subsidiaries will command an available power output 



Harnessing the Waterfalls 189 



of about 350,000 h.p., and that its power plants and factories 
will represent an investment of about 150,000,000 kroner, a 
calculation made, however, before the War. 

Naturally, the Government and people of Norway view 
with some concern the control of their waterfalls by foreign 

capital, and especially the cases of actual 
Regulations purchase by foreign companies. In 1909, 

more than one-third of the shares of all stock 
companies were in foreign hands. It is argued that if there 
is to be any profit from these natural resources it ought to 
accrue to Norwegian citizens ; some maintain, indeed, that 
all waterfalls should belong to the State. At the same time, 
it is realised that, until the material prosperity of Norway 
increases considerably, the waterfalls will remain unproduc- 
tive, unless their energy is released by means of capital 
borrowed from abroad. For years the " concession question " 
has been one of the chief political issues. 

By the Concession Act of 1909, stringent restrictions were 
put upon the acquisition of waterfalls of more than 1,000 h.p. 

To acquire such concessions a stock company 

The C Act eSSi ° n must obtain R °y al sanction. The rights are 
granted for not less than 60 and not more 
than 80 years. At the expiration of that time, the waterfall 
and all the apparatus for damming and conducting the water, 
and, if the State desires, the power station itself, with its 
machinery, become, without compensation, the property of 
the State. The owner of the concession is obliged, further, 
for fixed charges, to give 5 per cent, of the power to the 
Commune for lighting or other purposes, and 5 per cent, to 
the State. Foreign companies are practically excluded from 
ownership, unless controlled by Norwegian directors. 

A further Act passed in 1911, with Amendments in 1913, 
determines the " regulation " of waterfalls for industrial 
purposes. In accordance with this Act, concessions must 
be obtained and duties paid, when it is contemplated to use 
more horse-power or add to the efficiency of a power station. 



190 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



In the fjord country of the west coast, also, there are 
springing up electro-chemical industries, which rival the 

operations at Rjukan and Notodden. Odda, 
Cyanamide. on the southern arm of the Hardanger Fjord, 

a few years ago a quaint, rustic village, is 
now a prosperous industrial centre. Here the " Nitrogen 
Products and Carbide Company, Limited/' capitalised in 
1913 with 36,000,000 kroner, is producing annually 88,000 
tons of cyanamide, a part of which is used for nitric acid 
and nitrate of ammonia, the remainder for chemical fertilizers. 
This corporation embraces also the power company Aura, of 
which Mr. Ragnvald Blakstad (1866) is a director. In 1913, 
this company secured, north in the Romsdal district, con- 
cessions for regulating lakes and waterfalls capable of furnishing 
300,000 h.p., with an estimated reserve of 300,000. In 
addition to other works, this company plans to erect a dam 
at an altitude of 2,730 feet and to drive a tunnel for 15 miles 
through the rock. A postponement of these operations was 
caused by the War. 

Both the Municipalities and the State are acquiring water- 
falls for lighting the streets and electrifying the railroads. 

In 1913, Norway had 14, 1 10 miles of telegraph 
^Works^ lines. In 1911, wireless communication was 

established with Spitsbergen, and, in 1913, 
the Storting, on the initiative of Mr. T. T. Heftye (1860), 
managing director of the State telegraphs, voted some 
20,000,000 kroner to establish direct wireless communication 
between Norway and the United States. The two powerful 
termini will be located, at one end in the neighbourhood of 
Stavanger, and at the other in the vicinity of Boston. 

The use of electricity has also greatly accelerated the 
manufacture of wood products — pulp, cellulose, and paper — 

which constitute the largest class of Norway's 
™° od exports amounting, in 1903, to 33,000,000 
U P ' kroner ; in 1909, to 62,000,000 kroner. This 
group of industries, concentrated about the waterways of 



Harnessing the Waterfalls 191 



the Drammen and the Skien, employed, in 1909, 12,000 
workmen. 

Since the method of smelting iron by electricity was 
introduced, great possibilities have been discovered for 

Norway's low grade iron ores. Previously, 
Metals. her chief metal export was iron pyrites, used 

in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. The 
mines of Sydvaranger, north in the county of Finmarken, 
are the most extensive ore producers, yielding annually some 
650,000 tons. The copper mines of Sulitjelma, in Nordland, 
and various deposits of nickel, zinc, lead, and sulphur also 
must be reckoned as industrial assets. In 1909, the manufac- 
turing of metal gave occupation to 23,400, a larger number of 
workmen than were employed in any other form of 
manufacturing. 

The third industry in respect to the number 
Textiles. of workmen is the manufacture of textiles, 
which, in 1909, kept 11,000 busy. 
Wood products are the most important exports ; second 
to them are tinned goods. This industry began with the 
sardine factories at the seaports, and has been 
Canning. extended to include condensed milk, and 
other food products. Between 1903 and 
1910, the value of these exports rose from 9,000,000 to 
23,000,000 kroner. 

Between 1897 and 1909, the total number of manufacturing 
establishments increased from 4,039 to 5,620, the number of 
hands employed from 60,047 to 91,231, the 
MlnufacLrl. amount of horse-power from 151,514 to 
407,227, or 168*8 per cent. ; total wages rose 
92-8 per cent., and average wages 26*4 per cent. The intro- 
duction of mechanical power has increased the driving force 
per workman from \\ to 2| h.p. But the advance of industry 
is best illustrated by comparison with the growth of popula- 
tion. In the first decade of this century the population 
increased only 6*6 per cent., while the number of industrial 



192 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



workers multiplied at the rate of 24 per cent. Finally, it 
is astonishing to face the fact that whereas in 1876-77 — in the 
period when literature was about to throw off the spell of 
romanticism — the average yearly export of manufactured 
articles was only 10,000,000 kroner, in 1910 it had soared to 
114,500,000 kroner. 

Norwegian working-men are fortunate in that a relatively 
larger number of factories are situated in the country districts 

than is the case in other lands ; in 1909, 
Conditions fifty-seven factories out of every hundred 

were in the country. The clean and sootless 
electrical and electro-chemical industries provide intellectual 
rather than manual labour. The working-men are well 
organised, as in Denmark, in trade unions and sickness clubs. 
Certain forms of insurance are under the fostering care of 
the State. As an example of enlightened conditions, it may 
be instanced that the period of six weeks after confinement, 
during which a woman is prevented by law from working, is 
considered a period of sickness, and that the sick benefit — 
two-thirds of the wages — is paid. 

At the close of an article quoted above, upon " The Indus- 
trial Future of Norway/' that appeared in 1913 in the 

American Scandinavian Review, Dr. Samuel 
Future^of ^Y& e ma( ie the following significant pre- 
Norway. diction : " Thirty million horse-power have 

slept in the falls of Norway for thousands of 
years. Now, more than one-half million have been awakened 
to activity and employed to drive the wheels of commerce. 
Many times this number still await the hand that is to bit 
and bridle them. Not only have we splendid falls, where 
large masses of water rush precipitously over high rocky 
walls, but we have wide mountain lakes, where it is possible 
to construct enormous natural reservoirs. The new industrial 
Norway is scarcely ten years old. Looking at the future in 
the light of the changes that have taken place in this short 
period, it requires no gift of prophecy to see a Norway 



Harnessing the Waterfalls 193 



transformed, quickened into new life. The tide of immigration 
will be turned backward, and the red, steady stream of life- 
blood which has poured from our country to your beautiful 
United States, will remain at home to enrich the motherland. 
Those who have gone away to seek their fortune abroad will 
perhaps return to us, with ideas broadened and intelligence 
sharpened, to help us in the work we are doing for Norway. 
Our writers, musicians, artists, and discoverers have been 
recognised as among the world's greatest. The time is now 
ripe for Norway to come out of her long seclusion and take 
her part as a power, not only in art and literature, but also 
in the industrial world/ ' 



CHAPTER XVII 



FISHER FOLK 

Bergen, on the west coast, Norway's second largest city, is 
the time-honoured centre of her trade in fish. When the 

English monk and historian, Matthew Paris, 
Bergen. visited Bergen, in the Year of our Lord 1248, 

and called upon Haakon the Old, at the 
King's Hall, he counted 200 ships in the harbour and the 
standards of many nations. On that occasion, the ship 
which had borne him from England was struck by lightning, 
while lying at anchorage, and the mast splintered, whereupon 
the King, out of respect for his English guest, ordered the ship 
to be supplied with a new mast. In the thirteenth century 
Bergen entered upon a lively trade with England, through 
King's Lynn, near the Wash. Envoys went year after year 
from King Haakon to Henry III, bearing presents of falcons 
and elks' horns, to renew trade treaties. The ships of the 
traders reached King's Lynn heavy with dried fish, and 
returned to Bergen equally weighted with grain. In those 
times, when fasting days were more generally enforced by 
the church, the demand for dried fish at places remote from 
the sea coast was greater than now. 

If Matthew Paris were to return to Bergen to-day, he 
would find the massive stone structure of King's Hall still 

overlooking the harbour, with none of its 
p*!J external glory impaired. He would be able 

to count more fishing smacks in the roads 
than seven centuries ago, albeit most of them carry funnels 
now in place of sails. He would see the flags of nations then 
unknown. He would, in all probability, experience the same 
inclement weather ; as Bergen is famed for its copious showers, 
and often a veil of cloud hangs heavy like a pall above the 
busy city, while round-about, over sea and hillside, the sky 

194 



Fisher Folk 



195 



smiles blue. In Bergen there is a street rhyme about the 
young ladies who take their noon hour promenade around 
the public square to listen to the band, each under the shelter 
of her dainty umbrella. Despite the fact that the annual 
fall is 72 inches in Bergen, as against 26 inches in the capital, 
the excessive rains have no depressing effect on the light- 
hearted population. 

Towards the head of the harbour, if Matthew Paris were to 
return to Bergen, he would observe a row of tall wooden 
buildings huddled closely together, with 

Th6 Quay man narrow alleys between them, ancient now and 
fast disappearing, but more recent than the 
thirteenth century. They constitute the so-called " German 
Quay," the quarters of the Hanse merchants from Bremen 
and Lubeck, who settled in Bergen about 1300, and who, for 
upwards of three centuries, took control of Norway's foreign 
marts. In consequence of the Hanse domination, there is 
a large admixture of Low German blood in Bergen, accounting, 
perhaps, for the vivacious, pleasure-loving vein in the city's 
temperament, as evinced in the gushing fountains, the highly 
decorated cafes, the orchestra and band concerts, and the 
spontaneous singing — so different from the worthy but more 
stolid ways of Trondhjem and of Christiania. The Bergenske 
seems more akin to the Copenhagener ; Denmark's greatest 
wit and writer of comedy, Ludvig Holberg, was, in fact, 
born a Norwegian, a native of Bergen. 

The fish market of Bergen, at the head of the harbour, is 
one of the busiest fish emporia of the world. Here are carts 
upon carts laden with fish of every size and 
Market* 1 shape. In the holds of the boats anchored 
by the wharves, there are fish caught in nets 
and still frisking about in the water. The Bergen housewife 
takes up a writhing fish in her hands and tests it before 
making her purchase, with the self-satisfied feeling that she 
has caught her own fresh out of the water. 

Through Bergen more than half of all the dried fish, cod 



196 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



liver oil, and the roes, of the country, brought thither from 
all parts of the coast, are shipped to foreign parts. Other 

important shipping centres are the towns of 
Salted Fish Tromso, in the Arctic, Trondhj em, Stavanger, 

and Christiansund. In the time of Matthew 
Paris there was only one way to prepare fish for export 
to long distances : to dry it in the sun on branches or on 
wooden frames. Cod are still prepared in this way — the 
favourite drying period being from April to June — and are 
called tor (dried) fish. Salt was a precious commodity in 
the Middle Ages. It is only in recent times that the method 
of salting fish has been extensively introduced into Norway. 
Salted fish are called klip (rock) fish ; they are first split, 
then salted, and afterwards spread out on flat rocks to dry. 

Of recent years, the cathedral town of Trondhj em, from 
ancient times a fish emporium scarcely less important than 

Bergen, has become a centre for the refriger- 
Packing at ing of herrings, which are sent fresh on ice 

by rail to Sweden, and thence to Russia or to 
Germany. Iced herrings also find their way to England. 

Stavanger, south of Bergen, has in its turn developed 
another modern method of preserving fish, namely, canning 

them in oil. Sardines and small herrings are 
T F?sh d tinned in this way. " Stavanger sardines " 

are now commercial rivals of the sardines of 
southern Europe. 

Unlike the coast of England, which is shelving and sandy, 
the shore line of Norway is steep and abrupt. This accounts 

for the difference in the kinds of fish caught 
Co^F^shedes * n English and Norwegian waters. Flat 

fish — flounder, sole, and turbot — abound off 
a shelving shore, while only round fish are found in large 
numbers off a mountainous coast. In Norwegian waters 
the most numerous fish is the cod (gadus callarias). The 
cod season is in March and April, when they come to the 
coasts to spawn. The chief centre for cod fishing is the 



Fisher Folk 



197 



Lofoten Islands, a range of island mountains off the coast of 
Nordland, above the Arctic Circle. Here, upwards of 40,000 
fishermen may gather late in the winter, herding together in 
stations on the shore, sometimes twenty-four in one sleeping 
booth, awaiting the coming of the cod, which often appear 
8 miles off shore. The Lofoten fishermen put off from shore 
at a signal, in small sailing boats provided with oars, and 
quaintly resembling the " dragon " vessels of Viking days. 
Most of the fishing is done with long lines, although nets 
also are in use. The average able-bodied fisherman can 
catch, in one brief season, 1,000 cod. The fish are sold to 
traders, who come to the Lofotens and carry them off for 
further export to Tromso or seaports to the south. 

In the cleaning, salting, and drying of the cod, there are 
many by-products that formerly were thrown away but now 

are jealously preserved. The heads are used 
Cod 0i ^ iver for fodder and manure, the roe for bait — 

exported especially to France for the sardine 
fisheries — and the liver for oil. Cod liver oil is prepared by 
steaming the liver until the cells are destroyed, when the 
small drops of oil run together. 

After cod, herring give the chief fisheries. They abound 
among the islands. There is a spring season in the region 

of Bergen, Stavanger, and Haugesund, a 
Herring. winter season for " large herring " off the 

Nordland and in the Romsdal district. There 
are also " fat herring " fisheries in the summer and autumn. 
Herring are caught by nets, skilfully laid. A sharp look-out 
is kept for the golden moment when the school appears. The 
herring fisheries are an uncertain means of livelihood, however. 
For example, in 1888, in the Romsdal county, the value of 
the herring was 872,146 kroner, while three years later, in 
1891, the total catch netted the disappointing figure of 2,755 
kroner. In the Middle Ages, a Papal Dispensation allowed 
the Norwegians to fish on Sundays if the herrings chose that 
day for their appearance. 



198 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



A National 
Asset. 



Mackerel are caught also in Norwegian waters, as well as 
oysters, lobsters, seal, and other sea creatures, and in the 
fresh water along the west coast salmon 
and trout, red char and pike. Fishing has 
become more and more an occupation for 
specialists, and the farmers do not, as in saga times, turn 
fishermen whenever a school of herrings appears. In 1910, 
90,000 persons were engaged in fishing, and 16,000 in handling 
the fish trade on shore, together amounting to 106,000, a 
greater number than employed in the forests, although the 
forests bring a larger revenue. The following figures, quoted 
from official statistics, show the comparative value of the 
various exports of sea products — 

FISH EXPORTS FROM NORWAY, 1912 



1. 


Salted herring, spring 


hi. 


2. 


other seasons 


hi. 


3. 


Spiced 


hi. 


4. 


Smoked 


kg. 


5. 


Anchovies . . . . 


hi. 


6. 


Stockfish (dried cod) 


kg- 


7. 


Split, salted, dried cod 


kg- 


8. 


Other salted fish 


hi. 


9. 


Fish-oil . 


hi. 


10. 


Roe 


hi. 


11. 


Fish Manure 


kg. 


12. 


Fish Bellies. 


kg- 


13. 


Fodder meal 


kg. 


14. 


Fresh fish : Salmon 


kg. 


15. 


Mackerel . 


kg- 


16. 


Halibut . 


kg- 


17. 


Herring 


kg. 


18. 


Others 


kg. 


19. 


Smoked Salmon . 


kg. 


20. 


Lobsters . 


1,000 


21. 


Shrimps . 


kg. 


22. 


Oysters .... 


kg. 




Summary 


1- 


5. Herring Fisheries . 




6- 


13. Cod 




14- 


22. Other 





A mon 
147, 
652, 
1, 

316, 
28 

30,776! 
57,35S, 
452, 
420, 
57, 
10,693, 
10, 
14,548, 
598, 
451, 
776, 
59,485, 
4,375 
1, 

238, 



71,650, 
198,362, 
66, 3S0, 



mt. 
585 
267 
132 
,431 
482 
,030 
230 
684 
859 
540 
470 
,677 
,170 
160 
340 
,850 
,470 
,880 
075 
903 
713 
32 

,507 
,050 
,168 



336,392,725 



Value : 
Kroner. 
1,328,300 
10,668,300 
20,400 
38,000 
896,200 
14,903,600 
25,811,200 
9,046,000 
14,062,100 
1,265,900 
1,604,000 
16,000 
2,124,000 
1,196,300 
67,700 
582,600 
5,948,500 
1,240,000 
3,000 
1,354,900 
191,000 
25 

12,951,200 
68,832,S00 
10,584,025 

92,368,025 



Fisher Folk 



199 



If there is any occupation to which the Norwegians have a 
claim of priority, it is whaling. Fin-back whales were 
difficult to land by the old hand-harpoon 
Whaling, method, because, unlike sperm whales, they 
Occupation. san ^ heavily when killed. But Svend Foyn 
(1809-1894), of Tonsberg, on the Christiania 
Fjord, revolutionised whaling by inventing the method of 
shooting the whales by grenade harpoons from vessels large 
enough to haul the bodies ashore. His 
Foyrf experiments were first successful in 1868, in 
the Varanger Fjord, in northernmost Norway, 
where he succeeded in capturing thirty blue whales. 

Svend Foyn established permanent land stations for 
extracting the blubber. Whaling off the northern coasts of 
Norway increased until it reached its maxi- 
Arctic 6 rnum in 1886-87, when there were twenty 
companies and thirty-six boats in com- 
mission. Later, the occupation declined, and, in 1903, was 
prohibited by law, as being injurious to other fisheries. The 
whalers, however, transferred their operations to other parts 
of the North Atlantic, off the coasts of Iceland, the Faroes, 
the Shetlands, and Spitsbergen. 

In 1903-04 came another revolution in whaling. At that 
time there were introduced large steamers, constructed as 
" floating factories." They did away with 
Antarctic necessity of land stations for extracting 

the blubber. A floating factory is furnished 
with large vats for boiling the blubber and smaller vats for 
boiling flesh and bones. Some of them can boil 70 tons of 
oil a day. 

In the early years of the century scientists also studied the 
habits of the whales, and followed them in their migrations to 
distant seas. In the path of these investigations, Norwegian 
whalers crossed the equator and invaded the Antarctic with 
their floating factories, transferring their operations across 
the globe, from the Shetlands to South Shetland, and from 

14— (2384) 



200 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



the Orkneys to South Georgia. In 1909, more whales were 
caught in the southern seas than in the northern, and, in the 
three years from 1906 to 1909, the number of whaling ships in 
the Antarctic increased from two to twenty-one. The head- 
quarters of these operations were at the little town of Sande- 
f jord, on the Christiania Fjord, whence the fleets go forth twice 
a year. This port has grown to be one of the centres of 
wealth in Norway. In 1912, twenty-three whaling companies 
were quartered there, with a capital of 17,630,000 kroner. 

Since 1911, the flag of the Norwegian whalers has penetrated 
the Pacific. Norwegians are now whaling off Japan, Alaska, 
Australia, Africa, and South America. In 

Pacific 1913, more than 40 > 000 > 000 kroner was 
invested in whaling ships and equipment, 
and the total value of the year's products amounted to 90 
per cent, of the capital invested ! Still more gratifying, 
perhaps, is the fact that more than 10,000,000 kroner was 
paid out in wages and " prize money " to the crews. Four 
thousand whalers are sailing under the flag of Norway, and 
Norwegians are in great demand for the whaling fleets of 
other nations. Already, in foreign literature, the adventures 
of these pioneer whalers have become subjects for poetry 
and for romance. 




* ■ * 



Copyright 



Underwood & Underwood 

ROALD AMUNDSEN 



CHAPTER XVIII 



FOLLOWING THE FLAG. EXPLORATION 
AND TRADE 

The blue-and-white cross of Norway on its flaming crimson 
field was the first national ensign to wave over the southern 
extremity of the earth. Roald Amundsen, 

tliTouthPoll born in 1872 ' at Bor S e > in Norwa y> Panted 
the Norwegian flag at the South Pole on 

15th December, 1911, a few weeks before the arrival of the 
heroic but ill-fated English expedition under Captain Scott. 
Amundsen sailed from New Zealand on the Fram, the same 
ship that once had carried Nansen furthest north, and landed 
on the Ross Barrier. With a carefully selected equipment 
of dogs and rations, travelling on ski across the tablelands 
and mountains of the Antarctic, favoured by weather con- 
ditions, of which they took every scientific advantage, and 
protected by the iron endurance of Norse constitutions, 
Amundsen and four companions reached at length the high 
plateau of the Pole, which the explorer named after his 
Sovereign, " Haakon VII Plateau.' ' 

Had Captain Peary not gone before him, there is little 
doubt that Amundsen would have advanced upon the North 
Pole instead of the South. He already had 

Th6 passage WeSt won fame as an i ntre P^ adventurer in North 
Polar waters. He was the first to accomplish 
that voyage which was the dream of many a navigator, from 
the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and the destruction 
of several — the North-West Passage to India. Amundsen 
selected for that expedition the Gjda, a shallow vessel, calcu- 
lated to slip easily through the many and devious straits. 
From 1903 to 1906, with Captain Godfred Hansen, the Dane, 
a crew, and a small party of scientists, Amundsen passed 
successfully from sea to sea, north of Alaska, and determined 

201 



202 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



the exact location of the North Magnetic Pole. During 
the nineteen months he spent in its neighbourhood, he made 
magnetic observations of incalculable benefit to science. 

Another illustrious Norwegian explorer is Fridtjof Nansen 
(1861). He was the first to cross the inland ice of Greenland 
from the east coast to the west, a feat which 
Farthest 8 ^ e performed on ski in 1888. From studying 
North. the driftwood of the Polar currents, he 
conceived the idea of drifting in a ship 
toward the North Pole. He had the Fram constructed 
especially to resist ice pressure, and for three years made 
elaborate preparations for the expedition. Nansen started 
from Franz Joseph's Land in 1893, and returned to civilisation 
in 1896. When the Fram was at last lodged in the ice, Nansen 
and Johansen pushed north by sledge and attained the highest 
latitude hitherto reached, 86° 14'. No other vessel has 
attained to the degree of 85° 57', the record set by the Fram. 
In 1914, Amundsen was preparing to drift with the Fram 
across the North Pole by following the Arctic current north 
of Alaska, the ship to be provided with wireless apparatus, 
aeroplanes, and other equipment for a voyage of five years. 

From 1898 to 1902, the Fram was used for a second voyage, 
under the command of Otto Sverdrup (1854), whose expe- 
dition, making use of ski and sledge, mapped 

c 0t « t0 out a vast unexplored district west of 
Sverdrup. ' r 

Greenland. 

In the enumeration of Polar achievement, we must not 
forget the discoveries of the sister nations, Sweden and 
Denmark, notably the Swedish Vega expe- 

The Danes in ^ under Nordenskiold, the first to sail 
Greenland. , " _ , _ ' 

through the North-East Passage, and the 

vast " Denmark Expedition " to Greenland, in 1906-08. 

The Denmark Expedition was accompanied by painters and 

authors, and a large number of scientists, including botanists, 

geologists, and anthropologists, under the command of 

Mylius Erichsen, who, with two Eskimo followers, perished in 



Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

FRIDTJOF NANSEN IN HIS STUDY 



Following the Flag 203 



1907, on a dash in which he crossed the track of Peary and 
established, beyond doubt, the fact that Greenland was an 
island. His diary was sought four years later by another 
intrepid Danish explorer, Ejnar Mikkelsen. Greenland is a 
Danish province, and the Danes, while they have not won 
the laurels of the Pole, have explored their icy island in the 
interest of science more eagerly, perhaps, than they have 
made use of its meagre commercial possibilities. Another 
Scandinavian explorer, born in 1879 of Icelandic parents, in 
Manitoba, is Vilhjalmur Stefansson, discoverer (1910) of the 
so-called " blonde Eskimo/' 

These blonde Eskimos are supposed by some scientists to 
be the descendants of Norsemen who settled in Greenland in 

the tenth century. After a desultory exis- 
Thule* tence of 400 years, the colony disappeared, 

supposedly destroyed by the Eskimos. Green- 
land had been colonised by Norsemen from Iceland in 985, 
under Eric the Red. The love of exploration, of visiting 
remote lands, that has made the modern Norwegians a race 
of explorers, is thus clearly an inheritance from ancient 
times when, little by little, they pushed north and west the 
boundary of the known world, the Ultima Thule. It was 
Leif the Lucky, son of Eric the Red, who first explored, about 
the year 1000, the coasts of North America, sighted by 
Bjarni, another voyager, about 985, and called by the Norse- 
men " Vinland the Good." In the first decade of the eleventh 
century, the Greenland settlers made several attempts to 
plant colonies on the mainland of America, and, although 
these were short-lived, Icelandic traders made voyages 
thither for upwards of three centuries. 

Even in Viking days, the Norwegians were merchants as 
well as marauders. Trade ships, which were described in 

the sagas as heavier than the swift fighting 
Traders. cutters, accompanied the rovers on their 

raids. As late as 1248, Saint Louis, King of 
France, invited Haakon the Old, as King of a nation famous 



204 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



for its exploits on the sea, to take supreme command of the 
united naval forces of Norway and France. About the same 
time, the King's Mirror, a Norwegian book of precepts for 
the young, praises the life of merchant adventurer as a career 
as much to be desired as that of courtier. The merchant 
noblemen of Norway at that time call to mind the merchant 
princes of Venice. 

The elongated coastline of Norway, bounded on three sides 
by the ocean, fringed with a string of islands, and indented 

with fjords, gives Norway a greater exposure 
A«; tu ^ *° the sea per inhabitant than that of any 
for the Sea. other civilised nation. A longing for the 

ocean and its mysteries is characteristic of 
the people. If we count members of families supported by 
those who go down to the sea in ships, they were, in 1875, 
119,000, or 6-5 per cent, of the population. In 1900, on 
account of the foreign competition of steamships, the number 
had been reduced to 4-9 per cent., but this percentage was 
higher than that of any other land, England, Sweden, and 
Denmark coming next, each with from 1-8 to 1-9 per cent. 

The fleet of trading ships which connect Norway with 
other lands brings back far more in cereals, metal goods, 

textile fabrics, coffee, sugar, tobacco, coal 
E ^p^ s rt and and coke than they take away in fish, lumber, 

and electro-chemical products. Imports, in 
1913, were valued at 552,400,000 kroner, exports at 
392,600,000, not including over-border trade with Sweden. 

After the English Navigation Act was repealed in 1849, 
trade with England received a great impetus. For a long 

time the volume of trade with England was 

German h Trade S reater than that with an y other countr Y> 
and the exports to Great Britain are still in 

the lead ; but in recent years Norway has ordered more 

imports from Germany. In 1912 the value of exports to 

Great Britain and Ireland amounted to 94,831,800 kroner, 

and those to Germany to 75,019,100 kroner, or 25-58 and 



Following the Flag 



205 



20-24 per cent, respectively of the total exports. The United 
States came third with 9-02 per cent., then Sweden with 
5-78. The imports from Germany in 1912 amounted to 
167,955,600 kroner, and those from Great Britain to 
147,994,500 kroner, or 29-95 and 26-39 per cent, respectively ; 
while imports from Sweden were 12-55, from the United 
States 6-03, and from Denmark 4-81. 

The exports to remote regions include many rather excep- 
tional articles. For example, to the East Coast of Africa, 
in 1912, were sent considerable quantities of 

Unusual smoked sardines, condensed milk, dried cod, 
Exports. 

wood pulp, cement, and saltpetre. 
During the thirty years from 1850 to 1879-80, the total 
tonnage of Norwegian shipping increased by five times, and 

outstripped Germany, Holland, and France, 
Shipping. reaching the position of third among nations. 

The ships were chiefly wooden schooners, 
built in Norwegian shipyards. From 1880 to 1900, steam- 
ships, in other countries, took the place of sailing craft, and 
Norway dropped somewhat behind. Recently, the increase 
in steamships has been more rapid, and in total ship tonnage 
Norway is still fourth among nations. Unfortunately, the 
shipyards of the country have not been able to take care of 
even half of the new construction demanded by the growth 
of shipping. 

In proportion to population, Norway ranks first in ship- 
ping. At the end of 1914, the merchant fleet possessed 3,428 
vessels of 100 tons or more, having a com- 

Hig n h r t J°-? nage bined gross tonnage of 2,655,631. That is, 
per capita. ? & ' 

there is 1 ton for every man, woman and 
child. Great Britain comes second, with less than 1 ton for 
every two inhabitants. This fleet has a value of at least 
27,000,000 kroner ; divided among the people of Norway, 
it would mean a per capita ownership in shipping shares of 
more than 150 kroner. Director Bryde, of the Norway- 
America-Mexico Line, asserts that " never in the history of 



206 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



the world has any nation owned so large a fleet in proportion 
to its population as Norway does to-day, and this fleet consists 
mostly of well-equipped modern freight steamers. The 
following table will show the development in recent years — 









Total 


Total 




Net 


Tonnage. 


net 


dead wt. 




Sail. 


Steam. 


Tonnage. 


Tonnage. 


1875 . 


. 1,375,433 


43,875 


1,419,308 


2,171,000 


1880 . 


. 1,502,584 


203,115 


1,705,699 


2,761,000 


1900 . 


. 1,002,675 


505,443 


1,508,118 


2,766,000 


1910 . 


630,287 


895,869 


1,526,156 


3,185,000 


1912 . 


600,958 


1 073,776 


1,674,734 


3,750,000 



The chart given above indicates the dwindling of the 
white sails that added picturesqueness to the western fjords 
of Norway. While few new sailing-ships are 
Sails 6 being built for trade, the old sailing craft make 
excellent training ships, and Germans are 
willing to pay for the privilege of apprenticing their boys on 
Norwegian schooners. 

Of the 2,100,000 tons of shipping in the freight service, 
about nineteen-twentieths consist of tramp vessels, chartered 
either for single voyages or for a definite time. 
Ships' " Tramps " flying the Norwegian flag put 
out from ports the wide world over, bearing 
their cargoes of lumber, fruit, oil, ore, or what-not. These 
ships take great risks, and the percentage of wrecks is 
correspondingly high. 

Until recent years, passenger service and regular freight 
routes have been confined to the admirably conducted lines 
plying from fjord to fjord up and down the 
^elght^L^ies Norwegian coasts. There are also lines con- 
necting with British and Continental ports, 
and the Otto Thoresen Company conduct a route to Spain, 
the Canary Islands, and the Mediterranean. In 1907, the 
Norway-Mexico Gulf Line Company began the first regular 
transatlantic steamship service to the United States, Cuba, 



Following the Flag 



207 



and Mexico. The success of this project led to the opening 
of a direct line from Norway to La Plata, another to South 
Africa and Australia, and a third to Brazil. Large oil-burning 
vessels are being used in this service. 

In 1913, a direct passenger service was opened between 
Bergen and New York by the Norwegian-America Line. 

To the formation of this project, the Nor- 
T Am^rka e Line" we §^ an Government contributed a subsidy 
of 1,000,000 kroner, a large portion of the 
stock being taken by some 4,500 Norwegian-born citizens of 
the United States. In 1914, two twin-screw mail steamers 
were in commission, each 530 feet long — the Kristiania fjord 
and the Ber gens fjord. By this route thousands of Norwegian- 
Americans visited the home country in the jubilee year of 
1914, and many other Americans found it the most convenient 
way to return at the outbreak of the European War. The 
war was responsible also for a greatly increased volume of 
tonnage over this route, which connected the United States 
not only directly with Norway but indirectly with Russia. 

Insurance, both of hull and freight, is largely managed by 
co-operative societies in the various centres. These mutual 
societies support the Norwegian Veritas, a 
Insurance. widely recognised institution for the classifi- 
cation of ships. Recently, the " Norske 
Lloyd," a marine insurance company of large capital, has 
been established in Christiania. Another important institu- 
tion is the Trade Intelligence Bureau of Norway, which 
acts as a guiding and directing public conscience in the 
interest of Norwegian trade. 

Considerable coastwise trade is done in foreign waters 
under the Norwegian flag. The sailors are in demand the 
world over as the hardiest of all seamen, and 
FOll °Flag g *key sail under many flags. For example, 
in the United States they are desired as 
skippers on private yachts. In various foreign ports sought 
by Norwegians, such as New York and London, there are 



208 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



well-appointed homes, as well as churches, for Norwegian 
seamen. 

In the domain of the sea, the Norwegians may well claim 
to be the legitimate successors of the Phoenicians, the Portu- 
guese, and the Dutch, the nations who in the past have 
won their place in the world's councils, not by their numbers, 
but by the intrepidity of their sailors, explorers, and merchant 
adventurers. 



PART III— SWEDEN 

CHAPTER XIX 

CONSERVATISM AND PROGRESS 

The temperament of the Swede is inherently conservative. 
His language, stately and sonorous, is more archaic and has 
suffered fewer of time's elisions in sounds and 

SpfraSnt s P ellin S s than have the sister tongues. His 
manner presents a marked contrast to the 
blunt and direct bearing of English-speaking peoples. Sincere 
and unaffected, it is as refined and elaborate as though it had 
belonged to the Court of Louis XIV. The Swede, too, is 
progressive. He is a zealous student of foreign customs. He 
does not willingly allow himself to be left behind. Although 
superficially phlegmatic, he is capable, when once aroused, 
of impassioned and spectacular action. In public issues, it 
may be said that he waits until well assured of the importance 
of reform and then moves forward with his fellows in united 
front. Festina lente ! 

On 6th February, 1914, ^occurred a political event as 
dramatic as any that had happened in the days of Sweden's 
military greatness. On that date 30,000 
A Event atl ° f armers > picked representatives of the rural 
population, assembled at Stockholm and 
marched to the Royal Castle to address the King, and to 
assure him of their willingness to bear any added taxation 
required for the national defence. 

In recent years the question of national defence in Sweden, 
as in Denmark, has been the burning issue in politics. The 
fear of war has been acute. Russia, Sweden's ancient enemy, 
was building military railroads across Finland. Would she 

209 



210 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



not, the Swedes asked, on slightest provocation, seize the iron 
fields of Lapland, and the open port of Narvik on the 
Norwegian coast, annexing northern Sweden 

Th De?enS nal and Norwa y to the empire of the Czar ? The 
Socialists maintained that military expenses 
were fruitless. The Liberals, taking an intermediate position, 
asked for gradual increase in the defence. The Conservatives 
claimed that Sweden possessed in her rocky coast, with its 
reefs and difficult channels, strategic opportunities that 
ought not to be neglected ; that every sacrifice should be 
made to increase the efficiency of the army and navy, and 
that without delay. 

In 1912, Sven Hedin, the explorer of Thibet, published a 
tract of seventy pages, entitled Ett Varnings-Ord (" A Warning 
Word "), a flaming document that pointed 
Hedin ou ^ encroac hments of Russia, and urged 
an immediate increase in armament. Copies 
were distributed with telling effect the length and breadth 
of the land. Private committees organised the collection of 
funds for new battleships, and, within a year, by private 
subscription in small and large amounts the country over, 
there poured in 16,000,000 kronor. Still the Liberal Govern- 
ment deferred vigorous action. In 1914 Sven Hedin 
published " A Second Warning." In the crisis of this year, 
Hedin became the outstanding personality of Sweden, and 
it was said of him, Ille Fecit 

The naval and military issue became more than a campaign 
cry of the Conservatives ; it assumed national significance. 

Early in 1914 came the spontaneous Bondetdg 

" Bondet&get." referred to above, the " yeomen's march " 
to the King. The Swedish peasant is not 
like other peasants. Free in Viking days, free he has remained, 
accustomed to meeting his King face to face. 

" From time immemorial the yeomen of Sweden have tilled 
the soil over which they themselves and no foreign intruder 
held sway," said the call issued by a group of odalman to 



Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

H.M. GUSTAV V 



Conservatism and Progress 211 



their fellows : " We who now till the free soil of Sweden wish 
to preserve it for our descendants. We wish to leave them 
undisturbed the right to reap new harvests for their own 
livelihood and for the prosperity of the fatherland from this 
soil, which must always remain Swedish. The fatherland is 
the one thing that must be guarded above all else. To lose 
its liberty or independence is to lose life itself/ ' 

The reply of King Gustaf V from the balcony of the Royal 
palace to the assembled peasants was manly and direct. It 

has already become an historic document. 
Th Rqply g ' S " ^° °f those who before me have worn 

the crown of Sweden has in the same manner 
as I been allowed the privilege of standing in this spot, face 
to face with the commoners of Sweden and listening to their 
voices. The knowledge of your unshakable confidence in 
your king invests my royal duty with a doubled responsibility, 
but at the same time makes it easier of fulfilment, and I 
promise that I will not fail you. You may be assured that I 
will never compromise with my conviction in the question of 
what I regard right and necessary in order to guard the 
independence of our fatherland. The standards of readiness 
for service and preparation for war formulated by experts 
within my army I will not recede from. You all know that 
this means an extended time of military service for citizens, 
especially with regard to the winter training. In order to 
perform the great tasks before it, my navy must, further- 
more, be not only maintained but very considerably 
increased/ 1 

This personal expression of the King's opinion, without 
previous consultation with his Liberal Prime Minister, Karl 
Staaff, was declared by certain of the 

A ^rilis 6 " 3,1 Liberals t0 be a flagrant violation of 
the King's constitutional limitations. The 
Ministry resigned. Thereupon, the King called upon 
Hjalmar Hammarskjold, who formed a Provisional Govern- 
ment, known as " The King's Cabinet." The matter went to 



212 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



the people ; excitement ran high. There were voices clamour- 
ing for the " resignation " of the King from " office/' for the 
formation of a Republic. The Socialists organised a counter 
demonstration in Stockholm, like the Bondetdg, 30,000 strong. 
But delegations, with vast lists of signatures, including those 
of scientists, artists, authors, business men, university students, 
continued to strengthen the King in his position. In the 
elections, both the Conservatives and the Socialists gained 
from the Liberals ; the Conservatives securing the balance of 
power in Parliament, though not the majority. In the 
First Chamber the Conservatives mustered 89 seats against 
48 held by the Liberals and 13 by the Socialists. In the 
Second Chamber the Conservatives numbered 69, as against 
98 Liberals and 63 Socialists. 

A compromise upon the Kings policy of armament seemed 
likely to prevail when the great war broke out. The militarists 

had been confirmed in their anticipation of 
War. war, though not in their fear of Russia. All 

party lines were forgotten. Conservatives 
and Socialists united in calling out the landstorm, or third 
reserve, and voting a generous budget to preserve at any cost 
the neutrality of Sweden. 

The total military strength of the nation, including the 
reserve, is about 485,000 men, with a peace footing of about 

47,000. Every Swedish man is bound to 
Army serve as a conscript. He is liable for service 

from the ages of twenty to forty- two ; eight 
years in the first levy, four in the second, eight in the Land- 
storm, or reserve. Training lasts in all 240 days for unmounted 
and 365 days for mounted troops, including reserve training. 
There are voluntary shooting corps. The armament of Krupp 
quick-firing guns and Mauser rifles is good and modern. 

The soldiers are noted for their height and military bearing. 
Their attractive uniforms gave the different regiments on 
parade in Stockholm during the King of Italy's visit, in 
1913, a most animated and spectacular appearance, which is 



Conservatism and Progress 213 



said to have impressed that monarch. A part of the army 
of Persia is under Swedish officers. The spirit of the Swedish 

troops is maintained in no small degree by 
Sddiers their old flags and the memory of the 

glorious conquests of their ancestors. There 
are old cannon in the capital captured in Russia and in 
Germany. 

The navy possessed, in 1914, twelve coast-defence ships 
completed. Dreadnoughts would hardly be serviceable in 

the shallow approaches of the Baltic. The 
j^ke navy must rely upon boats of light draught 

and high speed. The King's proposal pro- 
vided for a navy to consist of two divisions, each composed 
of four armoured ships, four divisions of destroyers, each of 
four ships, and two divisions of submarines. An aeronautic 
fleet is to be organised ; the expenses to be paid by a 
progressive defence tax on large fortunes and incomes. 

The expression of King Gustaf s personal opinion to the 
Bondetag was characteristic of the tradition of the Swedish 

Royal house. " The history of Sweden is 
Bernadotte °^ ^ ev ki n g s /' sa -id the historian Geijer. 

Dynasty. Certainly it was so in the days of the brilliant 

Vasa monarchs. The present House of 
Bernadotte began to reign in 1818, when one of Napoleon's 
generals, the French Marshal Bernadotte, by a lucky train 
of circumstances, became King of Sweden and Norway, under 
the title of Carl XIV Johan. Like him, his successors, Oscar 
I, Carl XV, Oscar II, and Gustaf V have imbued them- 
selves thoroughly with the spirit of Swedish nationality. All 
have been thoughtful students of science, art, and govern- 
ment. The late Oscar II was a talented poet. Prince 
Eugen, brother to the present King, is not only the patron 
of art but the leading landscape painter. Another brother, 
Prince Bernadotte, has been zealously engaged in religious 
work. The King himself, whether in audience at the Royal 
Castle in Stockholm, or with his family at the country 



214 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



seat of Tullgarn, gives the impression of a man of deep 
intellectuality. 

The Bernadottes have usually been fortunate in their 

married life, and blessed with generous families. Britain and 

Germany meet in the Royal household. The 

Queen and Queen, who was Princess Victoria of Baden, 
Crown Princess. ~ ' ^ . _ TT , 

is a descendant of the Hohenzollerns. The 

Crown Princess, who was Princess Margaret of Connaught, is 

a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria. The Crown Princess is 

universally beloved, not only for her interest in hospitals 

for tuberculous children, and her devotion to her hockey 

club, but also for her frank and spontaneous personality. 

In general, the Swedish Court is more formal than those of 

other Northern countries. In accordance with conservative 

wont, the Sovereigns are loth to relinquish 
Court picturesque old traditions. While titles of 

nobility are no longer created, the members 
of the old families still assemble for social functions at 
Stockholm, and point with pride to their historic Riddarhus, 
" The House of the Nobles/ ' 

The present Constitution dates from 1809 and provides a 
limited monarchical form of government, with King, Cabinet 

(Statsrdd), and Parliament (Riksdag). A four- 
Constitution cnam ber system was retained in the Riksdag, 

based on the four estates : the Nobles, the 
Burghers, the Clergy, and the Peasants — until 1866, when the 
present two-chamber system was instituted. The First 
Chamber consists of 150 members, elected for six years by 
the town and county councils. The Second Chamber com- 
prises 230 members — 150 representing the country districts, 
and 80 the towns, elected for three years by direct vote of 
the people. In the past, the electorate was greatly restricted, 
on the basis of property qualifications, and has been slowly 
extended, in keeping with the guarded Swedish methods of 
making progress. At last, in 1909, a sweeping law was 
enacted, giving universal suffrage, without restriction of 



Conservatism and Progress 215 



property or income, to men of twenty-five or over. Women 
had not yet (1914) obtained the Parliamentary suffrage. 

It is said that in the elections of 1914 there was not a 
citizen in the remotest country district who was not alive to 
the issue of naval expenditure. The campaign 

P Elect?ons al was s t remi o us ly waged with stump speech 
and pamphlet and argument from door to 
door. Since 1909 members of the Parliament have been 
elected by a proportional system, such that the minority as 
well as the majority is represented. There are no official 
printed lists of candidates. The voter writes on his ballot 
the names of his favourite candidates, or indicates a party 
group. He is not confused in his attempt to express his 
will in public matters. 

Sweden is a land of considerable distances and varied 
landscape, stretching near a thousand miles, 993 to be exact, 
from north to south. If turned on end, it 
Country d wou ld reach almost to Turkey. Its area is 
slightly less than that of France, and one and 
a half times as large as Great Britain and Ireland ; in popula- 
tion it lies between Belgium and Switzerland. It comprises 
three great historical divisions. The first is Norrland, in the 
north, including more than half of Sweden. This region of 
mountains and spruce forests that for centuries slumbered 
unheeded is now being opened to modern industrialism. 
The second is Svealand — where arose the original State — 
with its lakes, pastures, leafy birch groves, cities and factories. 
The third is Gotaland, in the south — the ancient kingdom of 
the Gotar — with its seaboard and milder climate. Still 
further south, the peninsula is tipped by the fertile plains of 
Skane, wrested from Denmark. 

At Karesuando, in the north, the temperature averages 
26° F., and at the University of Lund, in the south, 44° F. 
There are summer days when Stockholm experiences a rise 
to 90°, while in winter nearly the whole expanse of Sweden 
is covered with a sheet of snow. 

15— (2384) 



216 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



The five and a half million inhabitants scattered over this 
area form an unusual homogeneous population ; 25,000 are 
Finns, 7,000 nomad Lapps, 40,000 foreigners. 
Population. The rest are pure Swedes. Outside of Sweden, 
one and a quarter million Swedes live in 
America, 350,000 in Finland. 

For the purpose of local government, the nation is divided 
into twenty-five lans. The chief executive of each lan is a 
governor, or Landshofding, appointed by the 
Administration. King for life. The city of Stockholm forms 
a lan by itself, and the governor bears the 
title of Ofverstathallare. The magistrates of the towns and 
rural districts are, in general, elected by popular vote. The 
machinery of government moves with astonishing smoothness 
and manifest integrity. While public officials are allowed 
ample freedom of action, their conduct of affairs is carefully 
audited, and is subject to the unbridled comment of the 
press. 

In 1912, Sweden had three cities with a population of over 
50,000— Stockholm with 350,000, Goteborg with 173,000, and 

Malmo with 92,000. Gay Stockholm, with 
Stockholm, its waterways and fine architecture, is 

celebrated as one of the world's most beautiful 
towns. From the old City Within the Bridges rise the 
Castle, venerable churches, and the Riddarhus. The new 
House of Parliament stands, apparently, out of the waters. 
Facing the Castle, across the river, are the Opera, modern 
palaces, hotels, and museums. From their wharves, in summer, 
hundreds of passenger boats ply to suburban colonies on the 
islands of the Skargard. The Royal Theatre, the Northern 
Museum, the Post Office, the Hotel Royal, as well as the 
villas in the suburbs, all harmonise with their surroundings. 
Stockholm is not only the capital city and metropolis ; it is 
the largest tourist centre of the country. To its cafes and 
theatres come the holiday seekers of all provinces. Money 
flows freely and the cost of living is relatively high. 



Conservatism and Progress 217 



As in the other Scandinavian countries, the Lutheran faith 
is the established State Church. The Reformation reached 
Sweden through the instrumentality of Olaus 

Lutherans. Petri (1493-1552), a disciple of Luther ; in 
1527, King Gustaf Vasa transferred the 
property, political power, and supreme administration of the 
Church to the Crown. There are 12 dioceses, 188 deaneries, 
1,397 livings, and 2,558 parishes. The King appoints as 
bishop one of the three candidates having the largest vote of 
the ballots cast by the clergy of the diocese. In 1914, 
Professor N. Soderblom, a Swedish theologian, at that time 
professor in a German University, was elevated to the archi- 
episcopal see. For, unlike the churches of Denmark and 
Norway, the Swedish Church has a Primate. His cathedral 
is situated in the University town of Uppsala, in ancient 
times the seat of Swedish Kings, and of the worship of Odin, 
Thor, and Freyr. 

In America, the most powerful organisation of the Swedes 
is the Augustana Lutheran Synod. In Sweden, as elsewhere, 
there are congregations of Baptists, Methodists, and other 
denominations. The Salvation Army has 4,000 officers ; 200 
corps, with headquarters not only in the cities but also in 
mining camps and rural communities. It must be remem- 
bered that the founder of the " New Church," Emanuel 
Svedenborg (1688-1772), was a Swede. While there are 
fewer than 300 of this faith in Sweden, in England it claims 
8,000 adherents, and as many in the United States. Theosophy 
has a number of devotees. At the present time there is 
considerable free thought. In general, it may be said that 
the Swede, whether in church or out, is religious and eagei; 
about his moral and spiritual welfare. 

In temperance circles the world over, Sweden is famous 
for the " Gothenburg System/' a stringent method of reducing 
the excessive use of spirits, which, in the early part of the 
nineteenth century, threatened to sap the vitality of the 
nation. The system was developed in Gothenburg in 1865. 



218 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



In each community the spirit traffic is entrusted to a 
company {bolag), which receives only a fixed rate of interest 
on its invested capital, and hands over the 

ThC System bUfg balance of its P rofits t0 the community. 

Food must be consumed with drink. The 
bolag establishes comfortable public-houses, sometimes even 
libraries. The proprietor receives a commission for the food 
sold, but not for alcoholic drinks. Thus, all incentive to 
over-production is removed. 

Recently, the temperance movement has been directed 
against beer also, and towards total abstinence. In 1914, a 
new series of laws is being prepared by 

. A New Parliament, allowing local option, and in 
Temperance x 

Movement. some cases providing that the value of the 
liquor purchased shall not exceed one-tenth 
the value of the food ordered at the same time. The Swedish 
method of treating the liquor question is, indeed, in accord 
with their whole tradition of conservative progress, prohibition 
keeping pace with popular sentiment, instead of being forced 
upon communities not sufficiently educated to carry out the 
spirit of the law. The favourite drink of the labouring man, 
as in Denmark and Norway, is white gin — brdnnvin — that 
of the college student is punsch, a sweet and powerful liqueur, 
the chief ingredient of which is arrack. In spite of these 
" inherited " tastes, the consumption of gin decreased 
from 40 liters per inhabitant in 1830 to 6-8 liters in the 
period 1906-10. Thus, Sweden from being one of the 
" wettest " countries is, like Norway, fast becoming one of 
the " driest." 

Programmes for social improvement, particularly of factory 
workers, have been carried out — including insurance against 
sickness, accident, and old age, by trade 
W0 Welfare en S un ^ ons > Social Democracy, private philan- 
thropy, and the generous co-operation of the 
Government. Labour conflicts have tried out the strength 
of organised capital and labour. In the great strike of 1909, 



Conservatism and Progress 219 



300,000 workmen were thrown out of employment, with a 
loss of 11,000,000 working days. The problem of dwelling- 
houses is ever before the public mind. There is an " own 
home " movement to provide cottage colonies for workmen 
in the suburbs of the cities, to take the place of crowded 
tenements. 

By the remarkable law of 30th June, 1913, which went into 
effect on 1st January, 1914, the Government provided a 

nation-wide insurance for the pensioning of 
Pension invalids and the aged. By this law the 
Insurance. State constitutes itself a vast benevolent 

insurance company. It institutes for the 
greater portion of the people between the age of sixteen and 
sixty-six a compulsory insurance. The annual premiums for 
incomes under 500 kronor are only 3 kronor. For incomes 
over 1,200 kronor the annual premium is 13 kronor. In 
addition, any Swedish man or woman may take out a volun- 
tary insurance, depositing a premium of as low as 1, but not 
more than 30 kronor, annually. The amount of the pension 
is in proportion to the paid premiums. Payments are made 
automatically when the pensioner attains the age of 
sixty-seven, and, occasionally, whenever he or she is 
disabled and unfit to resume work for an extended period 
of time. 

Economically, the nation is prospering. Bankers, mer- 
chants, engineers are contributing their utmost to ensure 
financial stability. In savings banks, deposits 
Recent increased from 400,000,000 kronor in 
Progress!' 1900 to 800,000,000 kronor in 1910, or 146 
kronor for each inhabitant in the latter year. 
Combinations of banking capital have simplified the problems 
of business management and produced harmony in the 
different lines of expansion, particularly in means of trans- 
portation, and in the mining, steel, electrical, and forest 
industries. The Government also has appeared as a 
corporation owner. 



220 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



In ten years the national wealth increased nearly 60 per 
cent., from 9,570,000,000 kronor in 1898, to 15,145,000,000 
kronor in 1908. It was distributed in 1908 

Th Wealth nal as follows : arable land > 3,679,000,000 ; other 
real estate, 4,667,000,000; live stock, 
666,000,000; agricultural dead stock, 322,000,000; stores, 
machinery and movable property, 3,711,000,000; mines, 
518,000,000 ; fisheries, 86,000,000 ; means of communications, 
897,000,000; merchant marine, 163,000,000; bullion and 
specie, 111,000,000 ; claims on foreign countries, 331,000,000. 
The national debt was only 1,332,000,000 kronor. Of fortunes, 
benevolent institutions excepted, there are in Sweden 114,399 
of over 10,000 kronor. Of these, 1,604 amount each to over 
300,000 kronor. The economic position of Sweden to-day is 
relatively sounder than at any time since the costly wars of 
Carl XII. 

The renaissance of modern Sweden was well under way in 
the '90's. The following chapters will show that the separation 

of Sweden and Norway, in 1905, seemed not 
Since 1905. to check but to heighten the feeling of 

patriotism and the assertion of national 
character in art, science, and business. Great books and 
great paintings are winning glory for Sweden abroad. New 
inventions are bringing material prosperity. The people feel 
that they stand alone, untrammelled by an unwilling partner- 
ship, free to develop to the utmost their culture in a national 
renaissance. 



CHAPTER XX 



STRINDBERG AND LAGERLOF 

Swedish literature is a later product of art than the verse 
and prose of western Scandinavia. First in the eighteenth 
century, the nation gave birth to a great poet 

Traditions * n ^ e son £ wr ^ er > Bellman. Early in the 

nineteenth century a brilliant period of 

letters blossomed forth, under the influence of romanticism. 

Its most noted exponent was the poet Tegner, whose epic, 

Frithiofs Saga, has been translated into English no less than 

a score of times. The Swedish hall of fame includes many 

other names : among them, Runeberg, the patriotic poet of 

Finland ; Fredrika Bremer, the novelist ; and Viktor 

Rydberg, poet, philosopher, writer of fiction. 

Romanticism, once fresh and satisfying, at length grown 

yellow and diseased, gave way, as we have seen in Denmark 

and Norway, to realism. The revolt against 

c .4 u §" st " affectation and unreality " in Swedish 
Stnndberg. J 

literature was heralded, in the year 1879, 
with the appearance of a novel, entitled The Red Room, by 
August Strindberg. This was eight years after Brandes, 
through his lectures at the University of Copenhagen, turned 
the attention of all Scandinavia toward a new and rational 
literature. It was two years after Ibsen, in Pillars of Society, 
began his exposure of social lies. 

The Red Room is a satire directed against current conditions 
in Stockholm, and centred about the Bohemian life of the 

authors, artists, and journalists who are 
"jfaam"* f° un d i n the congested Red Room at Bern's 

Restaurant. Among the objects of Strind- 
berg's ridicule was the editor of a certain religious journal and 
an ostentatious woman reformer. 

221 



222 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Strindberg was thirty years old when The Red Room 
appeared, having been born in Stockholm in 1849. After 
tempestuous experiences at school and college, and after 
trying various trades and professions, he had begun to write 
plays and short stories, and produced a historical drama, 
Master Olof, destined, a generation later, to become a favourite 
play with the Swedish people. Employment as a librarian at 
the Royal Library gave him opportunity to become acquainted 
with books, and to satisfy to some extent his insatiable 
curiosity for knowledge. He studied Chinese literature, 
botany, chemistry, history, politics, and the theory of 
languages, upon all of which subjects he eventually put forth 
treatises or books. The most popular fruit of his years in 
the library is his Swedish People, two volumes of vivid sketches 
of Swedish life covering a thousand years. 

Five years after the appearance of The Red Room, Strindberg 
again shocked Sweden with a work which actually involved 
him in a law suit, brought against him by 

"Married." the State. The first volume of Married is 
a collection of short stories tending to glorify 
modern domestic life. Incidentally, they are directed against 
the " new woman." Strindberg had been stirred to the 
depths by Ibsen's Doll's House, which had appeared five years 
before ; he regarded Ibsen's Nora as " a romantic mon- 
strosity." Judged as short stories, these tales of marriage 
are remarkable for their boldness and terse descriptive 
power. 

The bitterness and misunderstanding provoked by the 
first volume of Married moved Strindberg to write a second 
volume, in which the condition of matrimony 
" The Father." is subjected to satire. His most virulent 
arraignment of woman, however, is found in 
The Father, published in 1887, the first in a long series of 
naturalistic dramas. The tragedy was staged a few months 
later in Paris, but not produced in Sweden until a generation 
had passed. In this play, the captain and his wife, Laura, 



Strindberg and Lagerlof 223 



cannot agree on the school to which their daughter shall be 
sent. Laura is a self-willed modern. She poisons her 
husband's mind with doubts as to the parentage of his own 
child. His brain becomes unbalanced, and a physician 
pronounces him insane. He is thrust into a straight- jacket, 
and dies reproaching the wife who has brought about his 
destruction. 

In the following year, Strindberg turned the tables on 

Laura by producing a tragedy, Miss Julia^ in which the 

woman is worsted. Under the influence of 

j^j¥ ls f, Midsummer Eve, a daughter of the nobility 

yields to the importunities of a son of the 

democracy, her father's valet. 

Although Strindberg so often inveighed against woman, 

he insisted in declaring that he was no woman-hater. Three 

times he married, and though thrice separated, 

t r The > » each union was blessed with children. His 
Inferno. . ,.-11. • 1 • 1 r 

first marriage supplied him with material for 

one of the most cruelly personal autobiographies of modern 

times, The Confession of a Fool, in which he laid bare his 

married life, and strove ever in vain to comprehend the true 

nature of his beautiful wife. This work is one of a chain of 

Strindberg autobiographies, in which The Inferno, written in 

1897, records the crisis of his life. 

The Inferno recounts how the author abandoned imaginative 
works and devoted himself to experiments in chemistry, 
chiefly in Paris. He refused to accept the current " theory of 
the atoms" ; like the alchemists of old he actually endeavoured 
to manufacture gold. During his period of chemical investi- 
gation, Strindberg suffered agonies from hallucinations and 
became, without doubt, insane. In his rational intervals, 
he passed through a variety of religious experiences, and at 
last found peace and renewed mental poise in the teachings 
of his fellow countryman, Emanuel Svedenborg. 

From mental darkness, and the self-imposed inferno of his 
chemical laboratory, Strindberg emerged into a new period 



224 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



of creativeness. His return to Sweden, in 1898, was followed 
by historical plays that were sane and serene, and symbolistic 

dramas that were often buoyant and highly 
Vasa*"* imaginative. Strindberg provided the 

Swedish stage with a long list of chronicle 
plays, a service similar to that of Shakespeare for the English 
theatre. The noblest of these historical plays is Gustaf Vasa. 
The stern old monarch who founded modern Sweden, the 
central character of the drama, is portrayed with intimate 
psychological power. 

The historical plays were well received by the Swedish 
public, as well as several of the delicate symbolistic plays, 

including Easter, which are supposed by some 
Sy Hays Stl ° cr itics to point mysteriously toward a new 

tradition of the stage. Indeed, the Swedish 
dramatist went further in the direction of beautiful imagery 
with obscure suggestions than Ibsen ; further, perhaps, than 
Maeterlinck. 

Strindberg's death, in 1912, was felt as a national sorrow. 
This radical thinker, who had spent his stormy life battering 

like a ship against what were to him two 
A IGng m rocks, Woman and God, without ever actually 

coming to anchorage, or being wrecked, 
ended his life peacefully in the presence of his daughter, 
holding the Bible in his hand, whispering, "This is the only 
truth/' Holger Drachmann, the Danish poet, has proclaimed 
Strindberg the " Storm King " and " Herald of the Future/' 
To define his place in literature is a difficult matter, 
when one remembers the fifty odd volumes of his collected 
works, of which his fifty-six dramas form a relatively small 
part. Two years, eight hours a day, it is said would be 
consumed by the average reader, to read aloud all of the plays, 
autobiographies, histories, novels, short stories, fables, poems, 
works on languages, botany, and chemistry. His writings 
have been translated into many languages and published 
extensively in more conservative England and America. As 



Strindberg and Lagerlof 



225 



a literary artist, he has established the one-act play as a 
recognised dramatic form, and given a considerable stimulus 
to the so-called " intimate " theatre. He has been praised at 
home for the strength and compression of his style, but it 
was the eternal fact and the underlying idea which interested 
Strindberg more than artistic form. His anger was aroused 
against all that seemed to stand between him and his solution 
of life's mysteries. His writings have had a wholesome effect 
upon all classes of people, whether of Conservative or Socialistic 
persuasion, and encouraged frankness and directness in 
relations of husband and wife and children. No other writer 
in any land has registered such an elaborate protest, always 
sincere, though often shallow and perverted, against the 
axioms and nostrums of civilisation at the crossing of the 
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 

Strindberg's leadership of radical thought in Sweden has, 
in certain spheres, been challenged by a woman, Miss Ellen 
Key (1849). After twenty years as a school- 
*jj!^ n mistress, Miss Key came into national promi- 
nence in 1889 with the publication of a series 
of lectures and essays on freedom of speech and emancipation 
of woman. At first an ardent champion of equal franchise, 
she surprised her followers, in 1895, by withdrawing her active 
support of the movement for equal rights, by preaching the 
evolution of woman through individual self-culture and a 
more spiritual interpretation of the functions of motherhood. 
She crystallised her theories into a pedagogic and psychological 
work, The Century of the Child (1900). Again, in Love and 
Marriage (1905), this author urges that the dual life offers 
the only perfect union of egotism and altruism. Proclaiming 
a religion of joy instead of a religion of duty, she asserts that, 
though nature cannot be eradicated, it can be ennobled. 
Mutual love is the first requisite of marriage ; better love 
unblessed by Christian ritual than marriage unhallowed by 
love, although one man for one woman is the ultimate goal 
of the race. Her book, also, on The Woman Movement 



226 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



(1909), while it freely asserts that the mother is no more 
bound to devote all her time to the household than is the 
father, maintains that her future development is to come 
not primarily through her public, but through her individual 
influence ; that the day will arrive when the State will crown 
her supreme services with wages for motherhood. 

Ellen Key's works have been translated into many languages, 
and, of late, like those of Strindberg, have been widely read 
in England and America. Her style, as essayist or biographer, 
is fervid, ecstatic, confused, and her chapters often require 
careful re-analysis before her meaning becomes clear. She 
has given to the literature of evolution a poetic significance, 
even a religious undercurrent. 

At a time when feminism had its detractors in Strindberg 
and others, and its defender in Ellen Key, the toilers, the 
industrial workers, and the poor, in their 

af Geyerstam mo ^ ern evolutionary struggle, found a literary 
champion in Gustaf af Geijerstam (1858- 
1909), descendant of a noble family and a graduate of the 
University of Uppsala, who, in short stories, in comedies, in 
satires in verse, and treatises on social conditions, portrayed 
with realism and keen sympathy the life of the very poor. 
But cold, realistic methods are hard to reconcile with the 
idealistic temperament of the average Swede ; Geijerstam's 
later works reveal a subtle and often melancholy spiritual 
analysis of character. My Boys (1896) is a study of child life 
in the author's own home ; and the Book of Little Brother 
(1900), which reached its fourteenth edition in four years, is 
an almost too intimate family biography, an impressionistic 
and sometimes mystical history of his own married life, 
recounting the illness and death of his youngest boy, followed 
by a slow pining away of his affectionate wife, foreboding the 
author's own fatal illness in 1909. 

Another defender of realism is Tor Hedberg (1862), son of 
the dramatist, who is an essayist and writer of short stories. 
Since 1900, he has given the Swedish theatre a succession of 



Strindberg and Lagerlof 



227 



dramas, culminating in 1907, with the play, Johan Ulfstiema, 

a political tragedy of Finland's struggle for 

Hedberg freedom, in which a father sacrifices his life 

for his wayward son. 

In a brilliant stage play, Gertrud (1906), another dramatist, 

Hjalmar Soderberg (1869), bitterly satirises certain phases 

of matrimony and the follies of infidelity. 

S^ierberg Soderberg is also Sweden's interpreter and 

translator of Anatole France. 

Henning Berger (1872) has constituted 

Henning himself the poet and novelist of modern 
Berger. r 

industrialism. For many years he lived in 

Chicago. 

Albert Engstrom (1869), another realist, is the founder and 
editor of Stockholm's comic weekly, Strix. The underlying 
human sympathy of this humorist, who has 
Engsfrdm audaciously pilloried even the clergy, is 
manifested by the deeply religious poems 
composed in 1912, on the dedication of the new church at 
Kiruna, in Lapland. He is a writer of concentrated power, 
suggestive now of Strindberg, now of Kipling, and a popularly 
respected corrector of social foibles. 

The chief poets of the school of realism were Albert Baath 
(1853-1912) and Daniel Fallstrom (1858), 
Poets. a Bohemian with something of Drachmann's 
fresh, strong lyricism. 
The chief literary critic and essayist with the naturalistic 
tendencies of the '80's was Oscar Levertin (1862-1906). 

Levertin, like Matthew Arnold, was not only 

Levertin a CIl ^ c * a P oe ^ as we ^> °* subtle feeling 
and almost classical restraint. In 1890, he 
revolted completely from " shoemaker's realism," in a volume 
entitled Pepita's Wedding, written in collaboration with a 
fellow poet, Verner von Heidenstam. Until his death, 
Levertin continued to be the versatile exponent of a tempered 
idealism. 



228 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



For eight years after Strindberg's attack on literature and 

Society in 1879, naturalism dominated Swedish literature. 

In 1887 came the first voice of revolt, when 

Verner the young poet Verner von Heidenstam 
von Heidenstam. _ __x •> r 

(1859) returned home from years of southern 

travel, his imagination warm with the colour of Egypt and 

the Orient, and issued his collection of impassioned verse, 

entitled Pilgrimage and Wandering. His Hans Alienus (1892) 

is an epic in prose, in three parts, of pilgrimages after beauty 

through all ages and climes. More recently, Heidenstam has 

turned to historical romance and produced a series of novels 

and sketches glorifying the heroic periods of Swedish history. 

The Carolines (1898), for example, carries the Swedish soldiers 

through the battles between Carl XII and Peter the Great. 

Heidenstam' s descriptions of people and nature are Kipling- 

esque in their appeal to all the senses, including taste and 

smell ; his characters reveal the Swedish national combination 

of fearless physical vigour and fervent idealism. 

Many Swedish writers seem uncertain in their preference 

for prose or verse, and are guilty of Quixotic adventuring 

with both. Gustaf Froding (1860-1911) was, 
F?6ding however, a poet by profession, a marvellous 

metrician, who admits the source of his 
inspiration from the Scandinavian masters of the golden age 
of romanticism. He put to song the emotions of rural 
Vermland, a region where the people are temperamentally 
romantic. 

As Froding celebrated Vermland, so another poet, Axel 
Erik Karlfeldt (1864), has praised the rusticity of the province 
of Dalecarlia, with provoking native humour and contagious 
warmth of feeling. 

In the realm of the short story, Per Hallstrom (1866) is 
master. A technical education and two years as a chemist 
in Chicago gave him experience which tempered, but did 
not destroy, his idealism. Since his return to Sweden, in 
1891, he has published a book nearly every year. Death is 



Strindberg and Lagerlof 



229 



the title of one collection of short and sombre tales. In 1908 

he produced the most discussed Scandinavian drama of the 

year, the satirical play, Erotikon. Academic, 

„ £V» sometimes mechanical, in the careful structure 
Hallstrom. . \ 

of his prose, this untiring workman has won 
the distinction of being one of the eighteen immortals of the 
Swedish Academy. 

It was in an, old homestead in that same province of Verm- 
land, on the westward borders of Sweden, where Froding 

composed his lyrics, that the greatest roman- 
Lagerldf ticist of contemporary Swedish literature, 

Selma Lagerlof, was born in 1858. A delicate 
child, her mind was fed on the tales of a time just past, when 
the manor houses of Vermland were crowded with old retired 
war veterans, impoverished gentry, as well as gay young 
people, who made up for what they lacked in luxuries by a 
life of dancing, sleighing, and song, interspersed with deeds 
of laughing generosity and daring chivalry. Selma Lagerlof 
felt that here was a romance unborn, demanding utterance, 
and that she was destined to put these stories into literary 
form. At first, she experimented with a metrical cycle, then 
with a drama ; not discouraged by apparent failure, she 
turned to prose and tried in vain to express herself in the 
clear, direct manner demanded by the realists of the '80's. 
At last, she found her own independent style, a rhetorical, 
lyrical prose, depending not upon observation but, rather, 
upon intuition. 

As a result of a prize contest while engaged in teaching 
school, she at last came before the public with her long 

meditated romance, which has, since its 
Berlings^Saga " a PP earance m 1891, followed the Bible into 

the households of Sweden, and, abroad, been 
translated into twelve languages. In its structure, Gosta 
Berlings Saga is reminiscent of the Arthurian and other 
mediaeval romances. " The Major s Wife," an efficient 
helpmeet, has taken for shelter under her roof twelve vagrant 



230 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



gentlemen, and put them to work in the factory on her estate. 
One of these cavaliers is the poetic young Gosta, an unfrocked 
clergyman, who drives fair ladies in his sleigh, on frosty nights, 
after the ball, beneath the starlight across the frozen lake, 
or over wild roads, pursued by wolves. Much the same 
mysticism which could turn the bleak feudal annals of the 
impoverished Middle Ages into enthralling romances of 
chivalry has, in this book, preserved to the Swedish people 
the music and witchery of a life that has once been lived, 
and even yet is to be found in certain parts of the 
North. 

In some of her books, Miss Lagerlofs style is less rhapsodic. 
She has borrowed strength and simplicity from the Icelandic 

saga prose in her Jerusalem, which, in marked 
" Jerusalem. 1 ' contrast to Gosta Berling, portrays a sombre, 

religious community of Swedes who are 
prevailed upon to leave their homes in Dalecarlia and to 
migrate to the Holy Land. Miss Lagerlof, however, returns 
to poetic prose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, a romance 
describing the journey of a Swedish boy transformed into a 
pigmy, on the back of a wild goose, over the provinces of 
Sweden — a book which, as a text-book, serves as combined 
reader and geography in the primary grades of the public 
schools. 

In 1907, the University of Uppsala g^ve Miss Lagerlof the 
degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Two years later she was 
awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, being, as yet, the only 
Swedish, and, with Bjornson, the second Scandinavian 
recipient of that world honour. In giving this award the 
Swedish Academy declared that it was granted " for reasons 
of the noble idealism, the wealth of imagination, the soulful 
quality of style, which characterise her compositions/' In 
1914 she was elected into the Swedish Academy, the body 
who award the Nobel Prize, and is the only woman among 
those eighteen " immortals/' 

Another authoress, Dr. Lagerlofs friend, Madame Sophie 



Strindberg and Lagerlof 231 



Elkan (1853), enjoys some distinction as an historical 
novelist. One of her romances, The 
ElkarT King and the Truth, has seen several 
editions. 

Among the many younger novelists who have appeared on 
the horizon since the dawn of the century, two of the most 

typical are Ludvig Nordstrom and Sigfrid 
Nordst^dm Siwertz, both born in 1882, both hesitant 

between realism and romance, both prolific 
writers, putting forth often a volume a year. Siwertz's 
careful style has been compared to that of Anatole France ; 
Nordstrom is a Swedish Balzac, with a fondness for analysing 
provincial life and character. 

Sweden, like the other Scandinavian countries, enjoys 
practically free speech. Compared to the press of Denmark 

and Norway, where newspapers are rather 
Newspapers, terse in content and limited in number of 

pages, the Swedish papers are weighty in 
substance and bulk. Whereas the Copenhagener reads several 
papers to get different points of view, the Stockholmer is 
more likely to stand or fall, so far as his political convictions 
are concerned, by one sheet. Outside of the capital, the most 
important newspaper is the Gothenburg Commercial Times, 
which is said to have a circulation of about 40,000. This 
newspaper was the chief organ of the Liberal Government 
which fell in 1914. For foreign news, no paper surpasses the 
Sydsvenska Dagblad, published in the exposition- city of 
Malmo. In Stockholm, the Conservative Party is championed 
by Stockholms Dagbladet and Svenska Dagbladet, which 
defended the King in the political crisis of February, 1914 ; 
while the Liberal point of view is sustained by the newsy 
Dagens Nyheter. The organ of the Socialists, the Social 
Democrat, steadily increases in influence and circulation. In 
America, the well-edited Swedish newspapers of Minneapolis 
and Chicago have a circulation quite as large as news sheets 
at home. 

16— (2384) 



232 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



The leading comic weekly is Strix. Idun, a woman's 
literary journal, also appears once a week. Monthly magazines 
are poorly supported, the Northern Review 
Magazines. relying for financial aid on the Letterstedt 
Fund, and Word and Picture on private 
donations. Both these periodicals, and also Art and Artists, 
exhibit a high order of literary contributions and artistic 
make-up. Political monthlies, A New Sweden and Swedish 
Magazine, have some influence. 

Swedish theatres have their trusts and their Belasco — 
Director Albert Ranft (1858), a vigorous administrator. 

Many of the larger municipalities own their 
Theatres. own theatre buildings, but depend on Ranft 
to supply travelling stock companies. There 
are, of course, exceptions. The Royal Dramatic Theatre in 
Stockholm, of which Tor Hedberg is director, is an institution 
maintained by the State. Among the noted Swedish actors 
of recent times are Fredrikson, Lindberg, Baeckstrom, and 
de Wahl. 



CHAPTER XXI 



FEMINISM 

The growing conviction that woman ought to be the comrade 
of man, not only within the home but also in the outside 

world of responsibility, is not new to Scandi- 
^omrade* nav i a - The men of the North have never 

regarded their sisters merely as feminine 
creatures, whose charms were intended either to seduce or 
to inspire. It would be difficult to imagine Norse courts 
of love, or knights fighting in the lists for ladies' favours. 
The old sagas are sparing in love adventures. When woman 
appears she is more often a fighter by the side of man, an 
heroic creature like that daughter of Agantyr who wrested 
the family sword from her father's grave. 

In mythological belief, it was the daughters of Odin, 
strong and self-reliant Valkyrias, who bore the souls of slain 

warriors to their hall of everlasting bliss. 
Valkyrias * n ac ^ ua ^ practice, wild, red-haired women 

often led the Viking hordes in their raids on 
foreign coasts. Even in more settled mediaeval times, 
Northern women held property on the same terms as 
men. 

Northern history abounds in the exploits of its heroines. 
Tyra, Queen of Denmark, in the tenth century, defended the 
marches of Jutland against the German foe. 

H History ° f ^ e on ^ ru * er ^ as ever e ^ ecte( i a union 
of the three Scandinavian kingdoms under 

one crown was a woman, Queen Margaret, who, in 1397, 

concluded the Treaty of Calmar that joined Denmark, Norway, 

and Sweden into one Scandinavian empire. Already Queen 

of Denmark and Norway, the Swedish nobles invited her to 

rule their country, in order to share the benefits of the peace 

233 



234 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



which this remarkable administrator had secured for the 
other two nations of the North. Unquestionably the most 
venerated saint of Sweden was a woman, Saint Brigitta, 
friend of the Pope, sacred writer, founder of a monastic order ; 
the lace designs which she taught the women of Vadstena 
are worked to this day in Lutheran Sweden. In Swedish 
history we hear also of women like Kristina Gyllenstierna, 
defender of Stockholm, and Ebba Brahe, whom Gustaf 
Adolf in his youth desired to make his Queen ; married to 
the Swedish general, de la Gardie, she presented him with 
seven sons and seven daughters, and, after his death, adminis- 
tered extensive domains, farms, mines and foundries, carried 
on trade with Amsterdam and Lxibeck, and exercised a happy 
influence upon the development of industry and the progress 
of horticulture. 

It was consistent, therefore, with old traditions, that 
Sweden, in modern times, was the first nation to extend to 

women any measure of suffrage. For more 
Suffrage" ^ an a cen t ur y> Swedish women have enjoyed 

certain communal franchise rights. In 1862 
unmarried women who paid taxes were given the full municipal 
vote. From this encouraging start, however, legislation in 
favour of women did not advance so rapidly as in other 
countries. It was not until 1909 that municipal franchise 
was granted to all women on the same terms as men. In 
1914 they seemed about to obtain Parliamentary franchise, 
when the outbreak of the great war plunged the minds of 
men back into mediaevalism and put a stop to progressive 
legislation. In Finland, women gained the right to vote for 
members of Parliament in 1906, and in Norway in 1913. 
The history of Scandinavian feminism might, indeed, begin 
with Norway, where women have come into their own quietly 
and completely. But the slower and more laborious progress 
of women's rights in Sweden has given rise to more theories, 
debates, experiments, and lessons in social problems. Voices 
from the battlefield of ideas, like Strindberg's virulent warnings 



Feminism 



235 



against woman's ascendancy, and Miss Key's inspired pro- 
phecies of a more spiritual feminism, have heralded Swedish 
women abroad in all lands. Many feel that the Swedes, 
perhaps, more completely than other peoples, have studied 
modern feminism on both its public and individual 
sides. 

The stimulus to the desire of Swedish women to obtain the 
same education and the same position in professional life as 
men came from the Swedish author, Fredrika 
Breme^ Bremer (1801-65). It is said that in 
Fredrika' s childhood she and her sister once 
asked their mother for permission to walk out, and received 
the reply that if they wanted exercise they might jump up 
and down behind the back of a chair. Fredrika's pity was 
drawn to the lot of the elderly spinster ; she saw that, under 
a new order of society, idle minds and hands might be devoted 
to work that would bring joy to the woman and profit to 
the community. Miss Bremer received encouragement for 
her views by a visit to America. In her romance, Hertha 
(1856), she vigorously affirmed the right of woman to study 
and to work. Hertha has been called the Bible of the feminist 
movement. 

Following Miss Bremer's lead, Swedish women were seized 
with a passion for higher education. In 1856 the Con- 
servatory of Music in Stockholm was opened 

Education t0 them ; in 1870 the Universities. From 
1870 to 1911, 2,190 women have taken 
University examinations. One woman doctor of laws, Elsa 
Echelsson, was, from 1897 until 1911, docent at the University 
of Uppsala, writing, at the same time, many learned papers 
on legal subjects. In 1913 a woman was docent in physics 
at Uppsala, another in literature at Lund, while a third was 
lecturer in Old English at Cambridge. The University of 
Stockholm was the first university in Europe to give a 
woman the chair of a professor. Here the Russian-born 
Sonja Kovalevski (1853-91) lectured on mathematics. 



236 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



In 1861, women were first permitted to practise dentistry. 
In 1863 they were admitted to the telegraph and the postal 
service. In 1864 their business rights were 

Pf0 Trides. extended - In 1870 they were aUowed to 
study medicine. In 1913 there were thirty- 
six practising physicians, while shops, libraries, trades, 
agriculture, commercial houses, factories were open to women 
on terms only slightly less advantageous than those offered 
to men. 

After the death of Fredrika Bremer, the interests of women 

were championed chiefly by Baroness Sophie Adlersparre 

(1823-1895), a frail woman with a will of iron. 

Baroness Under the assumed name of " Esselde," she 
Adlersparre. . . ' 

carried on a vigorous public campaign, and 

edited an influential journal for women, The Home Magazine. 

The advance of woman all along the line has been promoted 

by a remarkable organisation, named the Fredrika Bremer 

League, established in 1884, nineteen years 

Th Bremer ika afteF MiSS Bremer,s death - The founders 
League. were gentlewomen of means and leisure, and 
the leading spirit was Baroness Adlersparre. 
According to its statutes, the object of the organisation was 
to labour for the calm and methodical development of woman, 
and the amelioration of her moral and material being. In 
1913 there were 2,400 members. The League is managed by 
a council of twelve. The official organ is the magazine Dagny, 
successor to The Home Magazine. 

The work of the League is distributed among various 
committees and bureaus that carry on activities of a most 
comprehensive nature. One committee collects 
of Work** f un ds for scholarships for young women 
desiring to study in any special field of work : 
art, industry, nursing, farming, gymnastics, or housekeeping ; 
in 1911 the fund for this purpose amounted to 335,511 
kronor. Another committee investigates legal matters and 
presses legislation favourable to women. A committee on 



Feminism 



237 



literature keeps a zealous watch on books for children, and 
publishes catalogues containing advice for libraries. A 
committee on lectures provides classes for factory girls in the 
suburbs of Stockholm. There is also a committee on trained 
nurses. The League has established an agricultural school 
for women, where scientific farming and the making of dairy 
products are taught ; a sick relief fund for teachers and other 
self-supporting women ; a club-house for factory workers 
and domestic servants ; a system of co-operative stores, 
where women sell and buy their own household articles. 
Above all, the League studies closely the opportunities in 
business and professional life. If a landscape gardener 
cannot find employment in one county, the League will open 
a way for her in another. 

Another society that carries on an extensive philanthropic 
programme for women was organised and is 

Philanthropy, directed by Madame Agda Montelius, wife of 
the distinguished archaeologist. 

The women of the Social Democracy also are powerfully 
organised into (1912) seventy clubs. They 
Socialists. are active in the campaign for abstinence, 
for better factory conditions, and for 
co-operative stores. 

The work of the Fredrika Bremer League was accomplished 
by " the silent influence/' without the aid of the ballot. 

Meanwhile, however, the legal rights of 

fa^Sx&rsige marr i e( l women over their own property 
remained less than they desired. Women 
began to feel that they must secure the Parliamentary suffrage 
and share in the making of the laws. In 1899, the League 
petitioned Parliament to give women the vote ; but in vain. 
To carry on this work there was formed, in 1903, a National 
Suffrage Association, of which Miss Anna Whitlock, a school- 
mistress, is President (1914). Mayor Lindhagen, of Stock- 
holm, and other publicists became prominently identified 
with the movement. In 1906, to persuade Parliament that 



238 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



women really wanted to vote, a petition was presented, with 
the signatures of 142,128 women over twenty-one years of age. 
Various Suffrage Bills have been introduced into Parliament, 
and several measures have passed the Lower House, only to 
be rejected in the Upper. Both the Liberals and the Socialists 
put suffrage planks into their platforms, and the King, in his 
addresses from the throne, has recommended this measure. 

Between 1909, when women obtained the communal 
franchise, and 1912, the proportion of women eligible to vote 
who went to the polls increased from 15-2 

Hotting P er cent * to P er cent * Women are 

eligible for all offices for which they vote. 
In the first election in which they were allowed to stand for 
office, in the autumn of 1910, thirty-five women were elected 
to town councils. In 1913 there were sixty-seven women 
town councillors. 

The invention of machinery, which deprived women of 
weaving and other fireside pursuits, was one of the causes 

that drove them to seek employment by the 
Bread-winners, side of men. In Sweden the necessity of 

bread-winning is further emphasised by the 
large excess of women over men in the population. The 
wages of women have risen faster than those of men. From 
1870 to 1910, the wages of farm labourers increased 284 per 
cent., but those of women serving in the country 409 per 
cent. The entrance of women into mills and other fields of 
labour in competition with men has, perhaps, had a tendency 
to impair the sacredness of the home, At all events, the 
rate of illegitimate births increased from 11-56 per cent, in 
1900 to 14-36 per cent, in 1910. 

The philosopher of the feminist movement, Ellen Key, 
who was formerly a staunch advocate of women's rights, is 

now reminding women that, after all, their 
Key" greatest opportunity is in the home. She 

urges women, while they emulate men, to 
develop at the same time their own intimately feminine 



Feminism 



239 



characteristics, and to cultivate a new and more spiritual love 
of home and motherhood. 

Is Miss Key's philosophy needed ? Was a recent French 
writer justified in his observations upon the coldness between 

the sexes, as illustrated by the Eveless 
A Problem, expeditions of Norse explorers to the Arctic ? 

This is a riddle hardly soluble by statistics. 
Of admiration for woman there is certainly no lack ; nowhere 
was Pavlova, the Russian dancer, received with such an 
affecting demonstration as that accorded her by the populace 
of Stockholm. It is true that Swedish poets are more prone 
to sing the praises of nature than of women, but this may be 
put down to the shy reserve of the North, rather than to any 
lack of personal feeling toward the gentler sex. 

The Swedish woman's ideal of beauty is physical harmony. 
Carefully schooled in the gymnasium in childhood, she carries 

physical poise into her daily life. As the 
Comradeship director °f a gymnastic institution expressed 

it, " she wears her corset inside her body." 
In the modern athletic life which the lithe and ruddy school- 
girl leads with her schoolfellows, parties of young men and 
women go off together on mountain tramps and long expe- 
ditions in the wilderness in a spirit of perfect comradeship. 
The women pay their own expenses. When a young woman 
goes with an " escort " on a long toboggan slide in winter, 
she carefully tucks the car fare for her return trip into her 
mitten. 

The advance of women has been closely associated with 
the works of Scandinavian authors : Camilla Collett, St rind- 
berg, Bjornson, Ibsen, and Brandes. In the 
LiteTature 1 rea l m °f letters, many Swedish women have 
followed Fredrika Bremer : Ellen Key, Sophie 
Elkan, Anna Charlotte LefHer, Victoria Benedictsson, Helena 
Nyblom, Alfhild Agrell, Anna Wahlenberg, Mathilda Mailing, 
Hilma Angered-Strandberg, Marika Stjernstedt, and many 
others. Among the younger champions of woman's rights 



240 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



is Elin Wagner (1882) ; her novel, The Pen Shaft (1910), 
describes the career of a woman journalist ; another book, 
entitled 0. Wisbeck, Practising Physician (1913), reveals the 
experiences of a woman in the medical profession. The dean 
of Scandinavian letters, Selma Lagerlof, is herself a cordial 
supporter of the woman's rights movement. In 1911, when 
the International Suffrage Congress met in Stockholm, she 
was invited to deliver an address on " Home and State." 
She concluded with words which define the modern position 
of women in Sweden as well as in other lands : " We believe 
that the winds of God are bearing us onward, that our little 
master-work, the Home, was our creation with the help of 
man. The great master-work, the State, shall be perfected 
by man when in all seriousness he takes woman as his helper." 



CHAPTER XXII 



SWEDISH ART AND ARCHITECTURE 

If, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the 
genius of the Swedish people found expression in war and 

conquest, and during the nineteenth century 
Painting. in the quiet pursuit of letters, now, at the 

dawn of the twentieth century, this nation 
is most distinguished for her inventions, and her arts, and 
especially for the art of painting. That same strain of 
passionate exuberance and joy of life which inspired the 
victorious armies of Gustaf Adolf dominates, at the present 
time, the glowing canvases of those living artists who have 
created a Northern renaissance and made contemporary 
Swedish painting perhaps the most colourful and distinctly 
national art in Europe to-day. 

Between the art of Sweden and that of other Scandinavian 
countries there are sharp lines of cleavage. That such is to 

be expected is apparent on comparing typical 
Characteristics natura ^ landscapes : in Denmark we see the 

tranquil smooth-trunked forests of beech, or 
undulating pasture-lands, with villages built of plastered 
brick, and storks' nests in the church towers ; in Norway, 
the sombre spruce, and grim, gray-ribbed mountains ; in 
Sweden, green hillsides and sparkling lakes, groves of white 
birch, with graceful branches, and gay red farm-houses. 
Even the Swedish peasant dress is usually brighter and 
richer in red than the almost extinct national costume of 
Norway and Denmark. Consequently, we miss, in Swedish 
art, the refined gray tones and the genial humour of the 
Danish. We meet less of the seriousness and aggressive 

241 



242 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



individualism than we find in the Norwegian. We discover 
instead a fondness for colour almost as harmonious as that of 
the Italians. Further, Sweden's artists have, with infinite 
attention to form and finish, developed a higher degree of 
technical skill, which has given their painting more stylistic 
grace and cosmopolitan effect than that of the sister countries. 
While Denmark, in the last generation, gave the world one 
Kroyer, and Norway one Thaulow, Sweden has produced 
several artists of international renown. 

The foreigner who sees a group of typical Swedish paintings 
realises at once that they strike a peculiar national note. 

This is no doubt due in large measure to the 

Environment, fact that the Swedish painter, inspired partly 
by patriotism, partly by an inherent sense 
of harmony, lives in close sympathy with the manifestations 
of life that he chooses to depict. Zorn understands the toil 
and play of the bright-faced peasant girls of Mora ; Larsson, 
painter of family life, is father of a romping household of 
children ; Liljefors, the animal painter, devotes half of his 
life to hunting ; Fjaestad, the snow artist, is an athlete and 
champion skater. So one might go down the list : forest 
landscapes studded with lakes, paintings of the luminous 
summer nights, or of Stockholm by lamp-light in winter, all 
reflect the Swedish artist's affection for his environment, and 
arouse in the beholder the feeling that life must be good 
indeed in the Swedish birch wood. 

Like the art of the other Northern countries, Swedish 
painting to-day is a peasant art, the natural outgrowth of an 
inherent artistic sense, centuries old, the 
A Art Sant roots 01 which extend deep into the soil. 

Look at Zorn, first a peasant, afterwards an 
artist. Fancy this dean of Swedish painters, in whose veins 
flows the rich farmer blood of Mora, returning from his 
brilliant successes in the salons and drawing-rooms of other 
lands to live again among his own Dalecarlians, donning the 
native costume of his parish, and painting portraits of those 



Swedish Art and Architecture 243 



buxom peasant girls who are the hope and the strength of 
Sweden. 

Historically, the national Swedish school is of recent 
origin. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of 

military conquest, Swedish princes and 
Swedish* g enera ^ s sen t back from the sacked cities of 
Painting. the continent priceless treasures of art, 

" graciously spared from destruction/' which 
are now preserved in Swedish palaces and galleries. Artists 
there were, too, painting in Sweden at that time, but the best 
of them were foreigners invited from abroad. In the seven- 
teenth century, the portraits of Ehrenstrahl were first in 
merit. He was born in Hamburg, in 1629, and is called 
" the father of Swedish painting." In the eighteenth century, 
Roslin, the portraitist, Hall, the miniaturist, and Lavreince 
won names for themselves in Paris. It was not until the 
third quarter of the nineteenth century, however, that a 
truly national school appeared, led by Kronberg, von Rosen, 
and Cederstrom, who took for their subjects historical scenes 
from the period of Sweden's military greatness. The expan- 
sive canvases of these men were true to the academic con- 
ventions of their day ; their battle scenes still thrill the 
school child with patriotism ; but, in the light of the new 
naturalism that followed, their treatment of fact came to 
appear often exaggerated and insincere. 

As stated in another chapter, the year 1879, in Swedish 
literature, marked the advent of a new era, with the triumph 

of realism in Strindberg's Red Room. In 
1 886. point of time, the art of painting followed 

after literature, in Sweden as in the two 
sister countries. In 1881, Kroyer, the Danish impressionist, 
came back from his travels abroad to settle at Skagen. At 
the same time, the quartette of Norwegian artists who had 
returned to Christiania from Paris began the struggle for 
naturalism. It was five years later, in 1886, that open-air 
methods were brought to general notice in Swedish art by 



1 

244 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



the revolt from the Academy of a small but earnest group of 
younger artists, who formed Konstndrforbundet, or " The 
Artists' Union/ ' Most of the men who have helped to make 
a national school of art are or have been members of the 
Union. It is understood that its members will not exhibit 
together with non-union artists ; they refused, for example, 
to participate with Zorn and Carl Larsson in the Scandinavian 
Exhibition shown in New York and other art centres of the 
United States in 1912-13, which resulted in making the 
Swedish representation far more conservative than that of 
the Danish or Norwegian divisions of that exhibition. Like 
the naturalists of Denmark and Norway, these Swedish 
unionists adopted the new French filein air principles, without 
imitating closely the impressionistic methods of Manet and 
Monet. 

One indication that Swedish art is national is its popularity 
at home. The painter finds a ready market for his work, 
and generous prices, without being obliged 

P ° P Art 1Smg *° see k f° re ig n purchasers. Cheap repro- 
ductions in colour of the works of Larsson, 
the artist of family life, are to be found on the walls of the 
most humble artisan's home, and, on the tables of the well- 
to-do, Larsson's books of water-colours. The popular taste 
for magazine and book illustrations is probably higher than 
that of the German or the American reading public. 
Exquisitely painted booklets devoted to the work of 
individual artists call for the nominal price of a shilling, 
while two shillings will purchase a copy of one of the sump- 
tuous Christmas magazines, containing a whole portfolio 
of coloured prints that challenge comparison with the London 
annuals. Even the waiting-rooms of Swedish railroad 
stations are commonly adorned with reproductions in colour 
of leading works of art, thanks to the public spirit of the 
publishing house of Norstedt & Sons, in Stockholm. 

A director of this house, Thorsten Laurin, and his brother, 
Carl G. Laurin, the writer on art, are originators of an 



Swedish Art and Architecture 245 



organisation called the " Society for Decorating the Schools/' 
which is beautifying the free schools of Sweden with prints 

after paintings by masters old and new, 
the^chools occasionally securing original paintings. 

Hence, in order to see some of the most 
distinctive works of modern Swedish art, like several 
paintings by Larsson, Kreuger, and Prince Eugen, in 
different schools in Stockholm and other cities, one must 
pass through the playgrounds of laughing Swedish children 
at recess hour. 

Children thus trained by association to appreciate the best 
in art flock on holidays to the public galleries, notably the 
Furstenberg Collection at Gothenburg, and 
Galleries. the National Museum in Stockholm. Many 
splendid private collections are gradually 
forming in various parts of Sweden, from the Museum of the 
Swedish Maecenas, Ernest Thiel, in his palace built by Boberg 
near Stockholm, to the mixed collection representing personal 
friendship for artists, patriotism, and the collector's good 
taste, in the simple barracks of Hjalmar Lundbohm, manager 
of the mines at Kiruna, on the bleak plateau of Lapland. 

Anders Zorn, most famous of all Scandinavian painters, 
was born 18th February, 1860, at Mora, in Dalecarlia, the son 
of a brewer from Bavaria and a Dalecarlian 
^rn* S mother. He was brought up as a farmer 
boy on the banks of Lake Siljan, " the eye 
of Dalecarlia," and when but a small child began his career 
of artist by carving wooden figures and colouring them with 
berry juice. At the age of fifteen, he went to Stockholm, 
where he studied sculpture at the Academy of Arts, but 
won his first recognition as a painter in water-colour. In 
1881 he began his years of world- wandering, residing now in 
Spain, now in London, now in America, where the freshness 
and ardour of his drawing, the splendour and buoyancy of 
his colouring, made him, with John S. Sargent, a favourite 
portraitist of the rich. 



246 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Portraits, however, have given him a leadership among 
living artists no less assured than have his etchings. These 
masterpieces of bold line stroke, turned off 

P ^tehings nd w **k P ass i° nate eagerness, and once given 
away for a song, are now being bought up 
at prodigious expense by private collectors, as Mrs. John 
Gardner of Boston, and Mr. Thorsten Laurin of Stockholm, 
as well as by the museums of all countries. 

After frequent journeys abroad, Zorn has returned gladly 
to his native Mora, where he and his wife have made their 
home in a raftered house, decorated with 
B^nffactor dragon beaks, almost under the shadow of 
the church steeple. In the Dalecarlian hills 
Zorn discovered an old stuga, or mountain farm-house, and 
had it drawn down to his own gdrd, or estate, inside the 
village. This species of log-cabin serves him as studio, a 
laboratory not only for his painting, but for his etching, 
sculpture, wood-work. Zorn is the recognised head of the 
community, like any Viking of old. With his wife, he goes 
among the people, helping them to revive all that is artistic 
in village customs. They encourage the Mora girls to braid 
the red ribbon of maidenhood again in their flaxen hair. 
Zorn himself wears the leather apron and jaunty costume 
of the Mora carl. His wife is teaching the peasant women 
new designs in weaving, and helping them send to Stockholm 
the home-made articles which they cannot sell in the Arts 
and Crafts Guild House which she has herself established in 
the village of Mora. Down in the village, too, Zorn has built 
a high school, the walls of which he has adorned with examples 
from his own brush and those of his fellow artists. Across 
the river, under his patronage, a dance bana, or pavilion, has 
been erected, where the peasants are encouraged to repeat the 
dances and sing choral songs of the olden time. And to 
crown, as it were, his life of public service, Zorn has erected 
on a mound by Lake Siljan, guarding the village harbour, 
a figure of Gustaf Vasa, father of the modern Swedish 



Swedish Art and Architecture 247 



monarchy, on the very spot where, four centuries ago, he 

urged the men of Mora to arm and revolt against the foreign 

yoke. " The men of Mora raised this memorial," read the 

runes of the inscription, " Zorn made it." 

When he paints, Zorn elects to give us the healthy Mora 

peasant girls, preferably in their fleece-lined red woollen 

cloaks, contrasting with winter snows. But 

T r\/r Girls he is not oblivious to their charms revealed 
of Mora. . n . 

while enjoying outdoor bathing in summer 
in the waters of Lake Siljan, and reproduces them in all the 
fullness of life, surrounding them with brilliant light and 
fleeting chromatic effects. The sensuality of Zorn's women, 
however, is somewhat less heavy than that of the female 
types of Rubens. Three village girls, sisters, are said to 
have served as models, alternately, for the graceful bronze 
figure of the fountain in Zorn's garden. 

In the loft of one of Zorn's cabins, some summers past, 
there stood on an easel an unfinished picture. Light was 
admitted into the little raftered room through a tiny square 
window, opening on a potato patch. In addition to the 
easel, the room contained a bed. The bed clothes consisted 
of sheepskins, which were thrown back as by one who had 
just risen. Turning to look closely at the canvas, one saw 
the identical room and the white sheepskins ; and arising 
out of them in the picture was no classical Venus from her 
sea-shell, but a glowing daughter of Mora, refreshed and 
ready for her morning toil in the field. The whole canvas 
was dominated by green tones. A tradition of the Zorn 
household explained that the green colouring was the reflection 
from the potato patch seen through the tiny window ; that 
the master had not finished the picture before the bloom of 
springtime faded, and that he would wait for another spring 
to catch nature in the act, trusting Madame Zorn to guard 
zealously the model from becoming conscious of her youthful 
charm. Unmistakable in this sketch of " The Awakening " 
was the suggestion of the fructifying forces of nature, so 

17— (2384) 



248 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



evident in Sweden in early June — the lamb's fleece, the 
radiant peasant girl, and the verdant earth. 

Even more versatile and scarcely less talented than Zorn 
is Carl Larsson (1853), who has won his fame by his water- 
colours of family life. Son of a day labourer 

Carl j n Stockholm, Larsson served his artistic 
.Larsson. 

apprenticeship m Pans, where he began with 
romantic themes, and failed of recognition. Marrying, he 
discovered in his wife and first baby the subjects of the 
painting which brought him international fame. Returning 
to Sweden, he built, and himself decorated, the cottage In 
the village of Sundborn, " The House in the Sun," under the 
roof of which has grown up that family of happy children 
through whom Larsson has given the nation his bourgeoisie 
interpretation of Swedish family life. When an occasional 
tourist visited Sundborn, a few years ago, children came 
running out of every door ; then wife Karin, and last, in his 
flowing studio robes, paint-brush in hand, the artist himself, 
physically a giant, tall, confident, smiling with good nature. 
The visitor was invited to lunch among the lilacs in the 
garden, inspected the ship in which Larsson painted his 
children " Playing Vikings/' swung the door behind which 
a painting of wife Karin served as panel, and entered the 
dormitory, with its decorated cribs, as Larsson had reproduced 
them in water-colour in his " Christmas Morn." 

Larsson's books of water-colours, illustrating his own family 
life, are treasured everywhere in Swedish homes on both sides 

of the Atlantic. He has a keener sense of 
Hom^Life humour than some of his brother painters ; 

as his children express it, he " paints us ugly." 
And his humour explains, in part, his versatility. 

Of late, Larsson has returned to his dream days of romance, 
and is decorating Sweden's museums and institutions with 
mural paintings of romantic allegory or historical legend. 
Most significant are the series of frescoes in the entrance to 
the National Museum at Stockholm, depicting the history of 



Swedish Art and Architecture 249 



Swedish art during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 
Larsson's fingers, like Zorn's, are deft at carving and modelling ; 
whatever his hand finds to do, he does it with zest and joy. 
He will write you down a poem on a scrap of paper. In his 
vigour and versatility, saneness and fantasy, Carl Larsson is 
the most representative spirit of the Swedish renaissance. 

The animal world of Sweden has found a master interpreter 
in Bruno Liljefors (1860). He is a hunter who captures his 

game on canvas, who photographs on the 
Liljefors. retina of his eye the wild creatures he sees in 

the woods, and goes home to his studio to 
develop his impressions in glowing colours. He gives them 
character which a mere camera can never imitate, which has 
never been brought out elsewhere quite so successfully, unless 
by the animal painters of Japan in the eighteenth century. 
This Swedish hunter-artist was born in the University town 
of Uppsala. But he never attended an academic lecture. 
His father was a gunpowder merchant, and the powder seems 
to have entered his blood and from early childhood driven 
him into the woods. To-day he lives, with his wife, the life 
of a solitary hunter on the rocky Baltic coast. He hunts to 
paint, and paints in order to hunt, and no one knows which 
is his ruling passion. 

Swiftness of stroke and analysis of muscular action charac- 
terise Liljefors' " Flight of Wild Geese." His " Winter 

Hare " shows the animal in white protective 
^nfcnals° f colouration, scampering across the open snow, 

with confident yet cautious glance ; one can 
almost feel the warmth of the fur. He pictures a pair of 
crows perched on the pine boughs, or a falcon with cruel stare, 
offering her victim to her gluttonous young on a shelving 
cliff overlooking the fjord. His " Fox and Woodcock " and 
" Woodgrouse's Wooing " also reveal secrets of nature hidden 
to all except the hunter. Liljefors does not, like the English 
Edwin Landseer, idealise his animals and give them the 
emotions of mankind. He paints the beast as a brute and 



250 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



an utter savage, a creature none the less interesting, however, 
for its own instincts and individuality. He himself said the 
last word about his life when he once declared : "I paint the 
animal as a portrait." 

Fourth among contemporary Swedish painters ranks 
Prince Eugen, son of King Oscar II and Queen Sofia, born 

in 1865 at Drottningholm Castle. If Zorn 
Eugen paints the peasants, Larsson the home, 

Liljefors the animal world of Sweden, Prince 
Eugen celebrates the charm of Swedish landscape. His 
softly emotional rendering of birch woods and characteristic 
wooded regions rich in lakes seem like lyric poems in paint, 
and have won him the love of his people. He is a painter 
of the night, giving to his interpretation of midsummer a 
touch of pathos not elsewhere detected in contemporary 
Northern art. Latterly, this dreaming brother of the King 
has left his country house and shifted the centre of his interest 
to Stockholm, to his beautiful villa and water-front in the 
park of Djurgarden, where he paints a passing steamship, or 
the lights of a factory reflected into the water, or, beyond the 
bridges, the square walls of the massive palace of the Swedish 
kings. 

Like Zorn, Prince Eugen has cast in his life with the people. 
His paintings in the Norra Grammar School and other public 
institutions evince his democratic leanings, and he has assisted 
the art movement in the schools inaugurated by the brothers 
Carl and Thorsten Laurin, and encouraged the widespread 
household arts and crafts. 

Sweden's winter artist, so-called, is Gustaf Fjaestad (1868). 
As a painter of snow effects, he has shown that snow, as an 
expression in art, can be more than a mere 
Fjaestad. surface, emblematic of virgin purity ; it 
does assume shapes also and shades, varied 
and fantastic. His water-colour, " Is Spring Never Coming ? " 
discloses a forest of fir, the spreading branches weighted with 
snow, the trunks almost concealed by the billowy crests of 



Swedish Art and Architecture 251 



the snow-drifts ; all is illusory in the pale moonlight. His 
arctic sunrises through forests heavy with the fleecy snow 
and skies lowering with storm clouds reveal galaxies of 
delicate colour. Another favourite subject is the winding 
mountain stream resisting the huge arms of ice which are 
reaching out to throttle it. The delicate traceries of his 
oil paintings resemble tapestries, and, indeed, it is in designs 
for tapestries that Fjaestad has executed some of his most 
effective work. His art is distinctly decorative ; he is an 
inspired photographer, who, like Liljefors, owes somewhat, 
directly or indirectly, to the Japanese. Like Liljefors, also, 
he is both sportsman and painter, and was formerly a champion 
long-distance skater. With his wife, who is also a sports- 
woman and an artist, he lives in the country at Arvika, and 
welcomes the winter that enables him to sail his ice-boat or 
run on ski. 

While woman has not contributed so much to Swedish 
painting as to literature, Anna Boberg (1864), wife of Ferdin- 
and Boberg, the architect, deserves to be 
Boberg placed in the first rank. She devotes her 
life to painting the quaint fishing fleets of 
the Lofoten Islands, off the coast of Norway, above the 
Polar Circle. Mr. Boberg has built a studio for his wife on 
a knoll on one of the islands, with an outlook over the moun- 
tains and the sea, and there the devoted pair spend their 
summers working together. Sometimes Madame Boberg 
remains during the winter also in the Lofotens, living in the 
fishermen's huts, bearing all the hardships of the arctic climate. 
Her courage has won her the adoration of the fishermen. 
She often goes out with them in their boats, and, if a storm 
should rise that makes it impossible to land, she faces the 
night and arctic cold in an open boat at sea as uncomplainingly 
as the veteran fisherman. Or, clad in seal-skins, with her 
easel strapped to her body, she makes the rough sketches 
in the open that she later develops into finished paintings ; 
more than 400 of these panels, recording the life of the Viking 



252 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



sailing boat, now giving way to motor craft, are preserved in 
fireproof vaults in Stockholm. The vigour and technique of 
her work have won her recognition in Paris ; and at Venice, 
in 1912, a whole pavilion was devoted to her oils. She has 
caught from the impressionists the free use of paint, with 
which her canvases are loaded, and which requires considerable 
distances for proper perspective. 

Gunnar Hallstrom's (1875) art is decorative. Living on 
the historic island of Bjorko, where the French monk Ansgarius 
first preached the Gospel to the untamed 
HaHstrdm Swedes in the ninth cefntury, he has incor- 
porated in his designs ancient motives and 
modern folk-lore. His poster for the American-Scandinavian 
Exhibition of 1912-13 represents in symbolic formula a 
Viking ship, with its dragon prow wreathed with the birch 
leaves of victory, heading homeward through the waves, its 
bellying sail half concealing the golden glory of the sinking 
sun. Reproductions of this poster are now familiar in 
schools and libraries in America, and the design has been 
embodied in the cover of the American-Scandinavian Review. 
Hallstrom is also justly esteemed for his spirited water-colours 
of runners on ski and scenes of peasant life. 

Eugen Jansson (1862) has won distinction as a painter of 
Stockholm by night. At dusk, or midnight, or early morning, 
he gazes out over the city with the eyes of a 
Jansson. dreamer, and paints the yellow street lamps 
or the rows of castle windows through the 
purple haze. His crisp winter nights are instinct with 
subjective melancholy, and his summer atmospheres with 
the glamour of dreaming youth. 

Nils Kreuger (1858) is a prolific painter of marked indi- 
viduality, another open-air artist, whose favourite subjects 
are horses in the pasture. He has a pre- 
Kreuger. dilection for brown tones, and applies his 
paint with short strokes, which give a peculiar 
streaked or dotted effect to his work, not unpleasant if seen 



Swedish Art and Architecture 



253 



from a proper distance. In some of his landscapes he gains 
perspective by plastering his painting with black points 
that appear at close range like fly specks, further away, 
like a lady's veil, and disappear altogether from a distance 
across the room. In spite of such devices, however, there is 
an apparent sincerity in Kreuger's horses, and a muscular 
buoyancy which is quite convincing to the normal mind. 
His monumental work is a decorative panel, " Midsummer 
Day," executed in 1905 for St. Matthew's Primary School, in 
Stockholm, depicting a quay of Stockholm's harbour. Great 
dray horses are prancing across the canvas, festooned with 
birch branches in honour of midsummer, while the water 
sparkles in the background, and flags flutter from every 
ship. The panel has an individuality that is rare in 
art. 

Carl Wilhelmsson (1866) is, like Zorn, a painter of the 
peasant, but of quite a different type. While Zorn prefers 

the stout and rosy Mora girls at play, Wil- 
Wilhelmsson. helmsson takes the lean and muscular dwellers 

on the west coast and rocky waterways, 
intent on the day's toil, or soberly on their way to church ; 
farmers leading their horses to work, or miners blasting in 
the rocks of Kiruna. Not even the grim earnestness of 
labour, however, can quench in Wilhelmsson the irrepressible 
Swedish fondness for bright colour. 

The leader of the revolt against the Academy of Arts that 
resulted in the formation of the Artists' Union, in 1886, was 

Ernst Josephson (1851-1906). Originally a 
Josephson. disciple of the Swedish historical school and 

of the Italian renaissance, he laid a solid 
foundation for his work before he adopted the new methods. 
He is chiefly noted for his portraits, which have less of fresh- 
air suggestion than those of Zorn, but more of psychological 
power and subtle beauty. Josephson was a romanticist in 
a time of realism, a poet in literature as well as an artist of 
impulsive temperament and erratic power. Sorrowful to 



254 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



relate, he became insane as early as 1887. He will be best 
remembered for one masterpiece, painted in Paris in 1883, 
and now in the possession of Prince Eugen, " The Water 

Sprite/' a romantic masculine figure playing 
Th |prite ^ a waterfall, in gently veiled moonlight ; 

a painting into which the artist has concen- 
trated all his symbolism, his intense belief in his own powers, 
and his despair of public recognition. Not until he had been 
six years insane, when his works were collected and exhibited 
in 1893, was his talent recognised, and now he is by many 
competent critics considered the greatest of Sweden's 
painters. 

Otto Hesselbom (1848-1913) is a landscape painter who, 
like Prince Eugen, is fond of wide vistas over broad valleys, 

lakes, and rivers. His brush is ample and full. 
Hesselbom. His skies are singularly lofty and impressive. 

His technique is more modern, and at the 
same time more austere, than that of Prince Eugen. Sim- 
plicity and grandeur take the place of Eugen's tenderness, 
placed beside which, Hesselbom's work sometimes seems 
cold and unresponsive. This is due, perhaps, to his bitter 
struggle for existence. He had to win recognition in 
Germany before he was appreciated at home. Now, how- 
ever, Hesselbom's great canvas, " My Country," in the 
National Museum at Stockholm, is regarded much as an 
admiralty flag or a patriotic anthem as an emblem of 
Swedish liberty. 

Karl Nordstrom (1855) is one of the Swedish landscape- 
painters schooled in Normandy and at Grez in the '80's, who 

gradually turned from French to home 
Nordstrom. scenery. His unusual combinations of red, 

blue, and violet tones have caused many 
animated discussions. Ever progressive, he came, in the 
'90's, under the influence of Gauguin, and developed 
a decorative sense of great seriousness and tragic 
intensity. 



Swedish Art and Architecture 255 

Richard Bergh (1858), son of a landscape artist, is a por- 
traitist who succeeds best in interpreting his intimate friends, 
which he does with reflective and analyt- 
Bergh. ical power. Of the great Swedish poets, 
Strindberg and Eroding, he has painted 
powerful portraits. 

Albert Engstrom (1869) is Sweden's John Leech. His 
caricatures are sharp, sure, and direct. His grotesque pen- 
and-ink drawings of awkward peasant types, 
Engstrom. especially the masculine, provoke the mirth 
of all good Swedes. As founder and editor 
of Strix, the leading comic weekly of Stockholm, he has 
exercised a corrective influence on public morals, and waged 
pitiless warfare against every kind of sham. 

As an etcher, Zorn is supreme, but that fact need not 
preclude recognition of other Swedish etchers, and notably 
Count Louis Sparre (1863), who adds pic- 
Sparre turesqueness to city streets, and has made, 
in England, some graphic sketches of the 
Cornwall coast. 

Skane, Sweden's aristocratic southern province, land of . 
castle, wine, and fertile fields, has scarcely kept pace in 
artistic progress with the central provinces 
Norlind. of this nation of magnificent distances. Of 
late, however, Skane has found worthy 
decorative talent in Ernst Norlind (1877), an original etcher 
and draughtsman. Norlind designed the striking poster of 
the Baltic Exposition at Malmo, Skane's seaport, in 1914 — 
three white storks skirting a gray campanile, across the blue 
sky. 

The art of sculpture in Sweden has an historic past that 
can boast of the monuments of Sergei from the end of the 
eighteenth century. In contemporary sculp- 
Sculpture. ture the most distinguished name is that of 
Carl Milles (1875). He received his artistic 
training in France. Milles is a fertile and spirited designer 



256 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



in granite and in bronze of eagles, elephants, giant lizards, 
bears, and what-nots. His seated statue of the long- 
bearded Gustaf Vasa, in the Northern 
Milles. Museum at Stockholm, is a tinted cast in 

plaster of heroic size, that is now firmly 
entrenched in the minds of the Swedish people as the national 
conception of the father of Swedish liberties. In his curious 
decorative sculptures, particularly the bronze doors of the 
new church at Saltsjobaden, he is influenced by Byzantine 
and other archaic Christian art. 

David Edstrom (1873) is a sculptor, reared in America, 

who has developed uncommon psychological 
Edstrom. analysis in his busts of contemporary Swedes, 

among which may be mentioned the head of 
the well-known art patron, Ernest Thiel. 

Karl Eldh (1873) was born in extreme poverty, and obliged 
from the age of thirteen to earn his own bread. Subjects 

like "Eve," " Mother Sorrow," and " Despair " 
Eldh. reveal the seriousness of his temperament. 

In the National Museum he is represented by 
a monumental bust in bronze of the author, August Strindberg. 
During his last years, he has simplified his style, as is seen in 
his statue, " Youth," given to the National Museum by Zorn. 
Eldh is at present (1914) working on a statue of the Swedish 
poet and composer, Gunnar Wennerberg, for the city of St. 
Paul, in the United States. 

Most versatile and perhaps most representative of living 
Swedish sculptors is Christian Eriksson (1858), a ceaseless 

worker in wood, metal, and stone. More 
Eriksson. interesting than his statues and busts are his 

fertile decorative designs in homes and public 
buildings everywhere, from the sculptured doors of a cup- 
board in the dining-room in the Stockholm residence of 
Thorsten Laurin, to sculptures at the entrance of the building 
of the Medical Society in Stockholm, built in 1913 by Carl 
Westman, or the metal fireplace of Lapps and Lapp dogs 



Swedish Art and Architecture 257 



in the headquarters of Hjalmar Lundbohm, far north, beneath 
the iron mountain of Kiruna. In his happy inability to 
differentiate the beautiful from the practical, Eriksson recalls 
the Danish decorator, ThorvaJd Bindesboll. 

The American, like his British cousin, loves humour, even 
in art. Of all the Scandinavian artists who sent their work 

to America with the Exhibition of 1912-13, 
Pettersson. none aroused more interest than Axel 

Pettersson by the singular and mirthful 
appeal of his wooden statuettes. Born in 1868, in Smaland, 
the same province as the great humorist, Albert Engstrom, 
he began life as a joiner, but discovered that he could carve 
the shrewd, quaint, self-assured old peasant types in wood 
as well as Engstrom has drawn them with his pen. Pettersson's 
most effective groups are his burlesque peasant christenings 
and burials. Although a farmer's son, and wholly self- 
taught, he has a technique strangely near the advanced 
geometrical formulae of the post-impressionists. 

Of all the Scandinavian languages, Swedish is the most 
musical. In its rhythmical accent and liquid tonality it has 

been compared to the Italian. Many are 
Singers. the sweet singers that have gone forth to 

win laurels in the operas of foreign lands. 
The names of Jenny Lind and Christina Nilsson are familiar 
the world over. The Royal Opera in Stockholm still retains 
its famous baritone, John Forsel, but the soprano, Julia 
Clausson, like several other noted Swedish singers, is under 
contract in America. 

Musical composition in Sweden, however, has not kept 
pace with the singers. Of living song composers, Emil 

Sjogren (1853) is the most popular. His 
Composers t° nes are s °ft an( i persuasive. His piano 

compositions are probably played as much 
in Germany as at home. Wilhelm Stenhammer (1871) is a 
composer of very many songs and overtures, and several 
operas reminiscent of Wagner. Hugo Alfven (1872) is both 



258 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



a composer and a violin virtuoso. One of his symphonies 
has been performed in London and Paris. His orchestration, 
" Midsummer Eve " — a Swedish rhapsody in the genre of 
Liszt, was played with success, in 1913, at Carnegie Hall, in 
New York. Tor Aulin (1866-1914) is famed for his violin 
suite for Strindberg's drama, Master Olof. Jean Sibelius, also, 
the Finnish composer and orchestra leader, is sometimes 
classed as a Swede. 

Swedish architecture has followed only a little behind 
painting in its rapid development. Especially since the 
'90's, new buildings have risen in town and 

Architecture, country that rely for their impressiveness not 
on size, as often seems the case in American 
architecture, nor in unstructural ornamentation, like some 
of the modern German buildings, but upon the integral 
beauty of their construction. They are rich in variety, with 
wall spaces broken, not, as in American skyscrapers, with 
regular rows of windows ; the light is admitted at irregular 
intervals. The younger architects, instead of blindly 
following classical or renaissance models, have striven 
to develop new styles out of historic survivals of Sweden's 
past. 

While the land is not rich in old stave churches, like Norway, 
the ancient traditions in wood have been handed down with 

tolerable fidelity to the modern wooden farm- 
Buildings houses, proverbially full of cross work, and 

painted red to harmonise pleasingly with the 
surrounding groves of green spruce or of birch, as well as the 
snows of winter. For stone churches, Lund Cathedral is a 
worthy representative of the romanesque, and, in brick, 
Uppsala Cathedral of Gothic. The so-called Vasa architecture 
is found in the fortified castles of Gripsholm, Vadstena, and 
Kalmar. The Caroline period of foreign conquest brought 
country manors and city dwellings under Italian influence, 
and gave Sweden the crowning glory of her architecture, the 
Royal Palace of Stockholm, that rises, simple, massive, and 



Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

LUND CATHEDRAL 



Swedish Art and Architecture 



259 



serene, from the City Between the Bridges, the creation of 
an architectural genius, Nicholas Tessin, the younger. 

The first and last of these styles contemporary Swedish 
architects are utilising in country buildings. Their picturesque 

cottages are modifications of the old wooden 
C ^rchTtects ry farm - houses > their manors for the rich reflect 

the amplitude and decoration of the Caroline 
period. In the cities, on the other hand, are being developed 
the simple and solid lines of ecclesiastical and Vasa archi- 
tecture, with an apparent influence exerted by the unassuming 
brick structures of the modern Danish artists, Nyrop and 
Kampmann. Stockholm architects are trying also to reform 
the character of the city street, by the use of homogeneous 
building materials and harmonious styles of construction that 
give unity without monotony. 

The revered forerunner of the present generation of Swedish 
architects is Gustaf Clason (1856), who designed the Northern 

Museum at Stockholm, the treasure-house of 
Th Museum ern Swedish arts and crafts. This palace suggests 

somewhat the Danish-Dutch renaissance style 
of the architect King Christian IV, brick and sandstone, 
with gables and pinnacles rising above a green copper roof. 

Ferdinand Boberg, born the same year as Anders Zorn 
and Liljefors, in 1860, is commonly called " the Exposition 

Architect/' from the fact that he designed 
Boberg. the buildings of the Industrial Art Exhibition 

in Stockholm, in 1909, and those of the 
Baltic Exhibition at Malmo, in 1914. In these structural 
groups, Boberg calls nature to his aid. Lawns and flower 
gardens seem to be a part of the architecture, and give the 
group of buildings a unity as of one structure. Boberg' s 
ability to harmonise decoration and weld a great mass of 
fresco and sculpture into the simple lines of his building is 
illustrated by his post office in Stockholm, and the new 
village church at Saltsjobaden, opened in 1913. Here, a 
generous patron gave Boberg carte blanche to realise his 



260 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



dreams. The church of dark reddish brick, a combination of 
severity and sunshine, is decorated by the sculptor Milles, by 
the most affectionate painters, silversmiths, and bookbinders 
of Sweden. Again, in his office buildings, like " Rosenbad " 
in Stockholm, and residences, like the villa of Prince Eugen, 
Prince Vilhelm, and director Ernest Thiel, Boberg sacrifices 
external display for interior warmth and charm. He has 
developed his own principle of diffused lighting, giving 
the outer walls the effect of few windows at irregular intervals. 
Boberg' s art is daintily decorative, and softness is the 
descriptive word of his style. 

More broken and brilliant is the conception of the new 
Engelbrekt Church, dedicated in 1914, perched on a crag over- 
looking the capital city. It is an irregular 
Wahlmann. composition of red brick, dominated by a huge 
square tower that answers the Gothic ideal of 
aspiration. The architect is Lars Wahlmann (1870) , professor of 
architecture in the Institute of Technology, who is also a leader 
in creating a national timber architecture for country houses. 

At this writing, a new City Hall is to be erected in Stockholm 
from a plan by Ragnar Ostberg (1866). The drawings are 
reminiscent of a mediaeval castle with a 
Ostberg. towering campanile. Ostberg is proving that 
mediaeval, monastic ideas can be applied 
to modern structures, as evidenced by the solid mass effect 
of his new Ostermalm Grammar School in Stockholm, of 
which the red-tiled roof and open courtyard, and low, vaulted 
corridors, invite return to the academic repose and 
contemplation of the Middle Ages. 

The architect who competes with Ostberg for solidity of 
conception is Carl Westmann (1866), the master of the new 
Palais de Justice at Stockholm, completed 
Westmann. in 1914, of the Arts and Crafts Museum in 
Gothenburg, and of Mr. Klas Fahreus's 
country residence at Lidingon, pronounced by critics the 
most beautiful modern house in Sweden. 



Swedish Art and Architecture 261 



Finally, the diversity of modern Swedish architecture may 
be illustrated by three remarkable structures of recent years, 
each different and unique. The first is the 
Thr |wedi ? sh ble Stadium at Stockholm, built of brick by 
Structures. Torben Grut (1871), for the Swedish Olympiad. 

The second is the interior of the Grand Royal 
Cafe, planned by Ernst Stenhammar (1859), an enclosed palm 
garden, with gushing fountains, columns and peristyles, and 
high " Moorish " balconies set in the wall. The whole effect 
is reminiscent of Granada and unsurpassed in splendour by 
any restaurant in Europe or America. It is a monument to 
the extravagance and cosmopolitan good taste of the Swedish 
people. 

The third structure is simpler but more striking than the 
other two. It is the wooden church at Kiruna, in Lapland, 
dedicated in 1912, after a design by Gustaf Wickmann (1858) 
from a Lappish wigwam. Several factors mentioned in this 
chapter combined to make the church of Kiruna. The 
altar piece, about which the interior is grouped, is a landscape 
by Prince Eugen, which, although it presents none of the 
usual religious symbolism, seems to shed the peace and spirit 
of worship of the 23rd Psalm : " He leadeth me beside still 
waters." The sculptor Eriksson designed the wood- 
carvings for this church, and Albert Engstrom, the caricaturist, 
versatile also with his pen, composed the dedication and the 
inscription for the great bell. This tepee-like structure, 
painted in flaming red, rising over the plains of Lapland, is, 
after the stave churches of Norway, the most impressive 
building of wood in the Scandinavian North. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



SLOYD 

Swedish artists, as we saw in the last chapter, are not 
infrequently artisans also, who beautify every object of 

utility, whether it be of cloth or of wood, of 
Sloyd. metal or of stone. Anders Zorn designs a 

screen or hammers out an extraordinary pair 
of andirons with quite as much zest as he traces an etching. 
In so doing, he is merely giving artistic expression to an 
inherent, and doubtless inherited, predilection for " sloyd/' In 
Sweden, the word sloyd refers to all forms of handicraft, as 
distinguished from the making of articles by machinery. 
Anglicised, the word is limited in its meaning to that manual 
training introduced from Sweden into the school systems of 
England and America. 

Throughout the Middle Ages, and until recently, the 
cottages and farmsteads of Sweden were alive with hand 

industries, each family growing its own dye 
F Fa<rtory d anc * woo *> anc * producing cloth in the curious 

patterns and colours peculiar to each separate 
parish. There came a break, however, in this proud tradition. 
The nineteenth century brought, among other blessings, 
machinery. The farmers found it cheaper to send their 
flax and wool to the cities. The women began to dress in 
inferior machine-made fabrics, and the men to wear uncom- 
promising black " city " clothes that were alike for all parishes. 
City folk, indeed, were inclined to laugh at the old-fashioned, 
fantastic peasant dress. The spinning-wheel at home stopped 
whirring. The young people, many of them, went to the 
cities to work in factories ; yet larger numbers migrated to 
America, lured by the promise of gold. Those who remained 
at home in the country frequently became discouraged and 

262 



Sloyd 



263 



shiftless, easy victims to disease, for the colour had gone out 
of their lives, just as it had gone out of their clothes. 

Thus, the old sloyd traditions seemed about to be lost 
for ever ; but here the modern arts and crafts movement 
stepped in. The crusade against the tyranny 
Hazelius. of machinery began in 1872, when a public- 
spirited citizen, Artur Hazelius (1833-1901), 
resolved to preserve the memory of the nation's arts and 
crafts. He began collecting ancient costumes and hand- 
made household implements. He needed funds for a museum, 
and went about making a patriotic appeal. Hazelius was 
called " the prince of beggars/' Few could resist the man 
who said to them : " I have given all that I own ; what will 
you do ? " So successful were his labours that to-day the 
imposing edifice of the Northern Museum, at Stockholm, 
houses a collection reproducing vividly the household life, 
furniture, dress, manners and costumes of practically every 
part of Sweden. 

As a kind of annex to the Northern Museum, although 
situated at some distance from it, Hazelius planned and 
consummated a still more noteworthy collec- 
Skansen. tion in the open air, in the park of Skansen 
on the heights overlooking Stockholm. Here, 
farm-houses have been transplanted from practically every 
province of Sweden, fitted with typical products of home 
sloyd. And, what is even more significant, these quaint old 
buildings are inhabited by natives of the respective provinces, 
arr&yed in their striking national dress. In recreation hours 
they assemble at the dance bana, or pavilion, in the middle of 
the park, where they rehearse the merry figure-dances, 
accompanied, as of old, by song. Even Laplanders dwell at 
Skansen, in a camp of their own, with reindeer and dogs, and 
practise their own peculiar sloyd, making shoes and wallets 
of reindeer skin and fancy knives of horn. Skansen was the 
first open-air museum of its kind in Europe, and has become 
the model for similar ethnographical collections in other 

i8— (2384) 



264 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



countries. In creating the Northern Museum and Skansen, 
Hazelius rescued the old arts and crafts at a crucial time, and 
gave to them dignity and stability. 

The arts and crafts movement in Sweden, however, had 
for its aim, not only to preserve the relics of home industry 
from the past, but more especially to revive 

Adlersparre a tme manu -^ ctuTe > all b ^t lost. In the 
year 1874 a body of philanthropic women in 
Stockholm founded the first Swedish Society for the rejuvena- 
tion of home textiles, to which they gave the name " Friends 
of Handiwork/' Their leader, Baroness Sophie Adlersparre, 
appealed to the artistically inclined by demonstrating the 
fact that handiwork tends to refine the taste of the worker 
and lends charm to the life of the home ; to the practical 
minded by making evident the economic advantage to the 
Swedish peasant woman who could, by means of sloyd, gain 
subsistence without leaving the family fireside. 

The members of this handicraft society found theirs was 
no easy task. Prospective teachers had first to be trained 
and sent out through the country districts 
A Crafts d to urge the women to set up again with new 
Societies. zea l their discarded looms. These mission- 
aries were provided with patterns for weaving. 
When they found a grandmother who could recall the stitch 
of an old lace design, they prevailed upon her to impart her 
knowledge to younger women. A market also had to be 
found, and for this purpose there was established a network 
of provincial depots, with a central shop in the capital. In 
the course of time, other societies, following the lead of 
" Friends of Handicraft," extended the revival of arts and 
crafts into the domain of metal work, wood-carving, and 
clay-modelling. In 1899 Prince Eugen, as mentioned in the 
last chapter, promoted the formation of the " Home Sloyd 
Union/' which has succeeded in bringing a new interest into 
the homes of artisans in the towns similar to that awakened 
on the farms. In the salesroom of the Union at Stockholm, 



Sloyd 



265 



articles can be purchased to supply practically every need 
of the home. 

The crusade for handicraft has been successful in Sweden 
to a degree unknown in other lands. Incidentally, it has 

added millions of kronor to the economic 
Sioyd 6 prosperity of the nation. In one formerly 

poverty-stricken farming village, the revival 
of home-made basketry is realising 90,000 kronor a year ; 
in another village, lace-making yields for the workers an 
equal return ; in a third parish, the men who are too old for 
toil in the fields earn 60,000 kronor a year by wood-carving. 
Home sloyd has saved many a farm from falling into decay 
or forfeiture, and made possible the possession, in the face of 
industrial competition, of the beloved family stead. In a 
measure, also, sloyd is accountable for the decrease in number 
of those emigrating to America. Far from infringing, however, 
on the proper domain of machinery, arts and crafts have 
created a demand for a higher grade of factory products. 

Congenial and artistic toil has brought health and joy to 
the Swedish craftsman. If you doubt it, visit a hale old 

farmer in painter Zorn's village of Mora, 

I?? J n return with him from the furrow, and sit 
Work. . ■ . . . 

beside him at his bench by the wall m the 
great, low-raftered living-room, while he carves a bowl out 
of birch ; talk to aged grandmother, bending over her needle ; 
hear Erik, the father, hammering away on his brass kettle ; 
watch wife Karen at her loom, while the grandson, fourteen- 
year-old Oscar, plays the fiddle, and Ebba, his flaxen-haired 
sister, is busy preparing the evening porridge at the spis, 
or open fireplace in the corner. Or go to the parish of 
Mockfjerd, also in Dalecarlia, in summer, and see glad-eyed 
women gathered under the birch trees, about a table decked 
with pillows and bobbins and piles of delicate lace. Their 
dress, kerchief, and bodice and apron — embroidered with 
bright flower patterns — all is in keeping with the perpetual 
springtime of their moods. Or stop at the roadside in 



266 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Vermland and watch a gay family party, consisting of women 
of three generations, breaking and scutching flax, and laughing 
all the while. If you are inclined to join in the play, you 
will doubtless receive a shower of soft white chaff. 

Home weaving and home dyeing have been accompanied 
by a re-adoption of national folk costumes. Before the era 

of machinery, each parish had its own 
FolkTressf traditional attire. There are to-day villages 

in Dalecarlia where, on the Sunday, every 
man, woman and child goes to church in a costume into the 
making of which mother or wife has woven her own intricate 
expression of joy in colour, and which the wearer regards as 
symbolic of the devotional spirit of the Lord's Day. It is 
noteworthy that one of the Swedish princesses favours 
peasant costumes for her ladies-in-waiting at her summer 
home. This militant disregard for modern fashions and 
Parisian modes does not impress one as retrograde or ridiculous, 
but quite the contrary. 

The handicraft movement may have begun in the rural 
cottage, but it could never be restricted to time or place. 

In the fine arts it has stimulated varied forms 
In( Art nal of expression ; the tapestries of Fjaestad and 

of Anna Boberg, for instance, the wood- 
carvings of Eriksson and of Pettersson. In the industrial 
arts, also, the sloyd propaganda has brought about a higher 
standard of harmony in line and colour. A visit to the 
furniture shop of Giobel, to the works of Rorstrand porcelain, 
of Gustafsberg pottery, to Hedberg's book bindery, or 
Forsberg's display of hammered iron utensils, and, above all, 
to the salerooms in Stockholm for exquisite needlework, of 
the Licium Guild or those of the " Friends of Handiwork/' 
will reveal the influence of the cottage art industries on 
modern production alike of hand and machine. 

Sloyd is also part of the curriculum of Swedish schools. 
In the year 1874, when Artur Hazelius was soliciting for his 
museum, and Baroness Adlersparre was organising " The 



Sloyd 



267 



Friends of Handiwork/' still another public-spirited Swede, 
August Abrahamson (1817-98) opened at Naas a Sloyd 

Teachers' Seminary, with Otto Salomon as 
Sloyd 1 director. The Naas system consists of a 

series of sixty-eight exercises in carpentry 
adapted to boys between the age of ten and fourteen. The 
object of these exercises is not so much to provide for 
practical education, nor primarily to make artisans, but to 
develop a sense of order and power of attention, and to train 
the eye to see, as well as the hand to fashion. Sloyd, with the 
aid of gymnastics, constitutes a healthy counterpoise to book 
study, and lays a foundation for an all-round development. 
Swedish teachers have carried the doctrine of sloyd into 
other lands, and the Swedish system of manual training has 
been widely adopted both in Europe and America. Foreign 
teachers, too, have gone to Sweden for instruction. By the 
year 1913, 741 teachers from Great Britain had taken the 
prescribed course at Naas, and 134 teachers from the United 
States. 

In addition to the regular school courses in sloyd in Sweden, 
municipal workshops have been opened in several of the 
larger cities, where children can go, outside of school hours, 
and make articles for their own use. 

Sloyd, in Sweden, is less a pastime of a few than a national 

expression of temperament. It has con- 

A National tributed in large measure to the happiness 
Expression. ° i i 

of a united people, to whom work becomes 

play and beauty a joy for ever. 



CHAPTER XXIV 



VICTORS IN THE FIFTH OLYMPIAD 

From Hellas to Modern Sweden is a far cry. In 1912, the 
Fifth Olympiad since the revival of the ancient games as an 

international contest was held in the new 
T Modern h Stadium at Stockholm. In many respects 
Olympiad. the Swedish athletes showed that they might 

lay claim to a culture of the human form 
and limb as highly developed as that which was the proud 
boast of the youth of Greece. In spite of keen competition 
from twenty-seven countries, some of them famous for their 
athletics and with many times the population of Sweden, the 
home country triumphed in the games, with a score of 133 
points, against 129 won by the United States and 76 by Great 
Britain. 

In the two preceding Olympic contests, at Athens in 1906 
and at London in 1908, Sweden had won third place, being 
surpassed only by the two English-speaking 

of Athletes nations, and thus established her right to 
entertain the Olympic hosts. For the games 
at Stockholm, a Stadium was erected which serves to-day as 
a permanent field of sports. The contests at the Fifth 
Olympiad included not only the usual track and field games, 
but many contests outside the Stadium, such as the modern 
pentathlon, in which the Swedes won the first three places, 
tennis, swimming, yacht-racing, boat-racing, various kinds 
of shooting and riding events, in short, practically every 
variety of physical sport known to modern man. The 
uniform success which attended the athletes of Sweden 
indicated not so much the exceptional prowess of individuals 
— the Americans, in fact, won more first prizes — as the general 
physical proficiency of the whole rank and file of the people. 

268 



Victors in the Fifth Olympiad 269 



From Viking times, the Swedes, like their neighbours, were 
famed for their beauty of body, their physical prowess, their 
activity in jumping and running, and their 
Fr °Times kmg * n ^ e use °f bow, spear, and sword. 

On the sea, also, their daring " sporting 
chances " were proverbial. The native Swedish word for 
sport, Idrott, is an heirloom from antiquity. 

Like the Norwegians, the Swedes excel in winter games. 
To them, also, ski-ing is " the sport of sports," although the 
more open nature of the country does not 

^Game^ 6 ™ give them the advanta S e of the varied 
descents and dangerous leaps that make 
ski-ing in Norway a national institution. On the ice, however, 
the Swedes are usually invincible. Some years ago, they 
conceived the idea of assembling the sportsmen of the world 
at Stockholm every four years to compete in winter contests, 
corresponding to the summer contests of the Olympiads. In 
1901 the first meeting was held at Stockholm and lasted nine 
days. The three Scandinavian countries took part, together 
with Finland, Germany, Austria, Holland, and England. 
The Northern Games (Nordiska Speleri) were repeated in 
1905, 1909, and 1913. It is a glorious sight, indeed, on these 
occasions to see, on the frozen waters surrounding Stockholm, 
the concourse of skaters, the white fluttering sails of ice- 
boats tacking against the wind, light racing sledges drawn 
by swift, gaily caparisoned horses, even automobiles driven 
at high speed across the hard glittering surface. The spec- 
tators are protected against the arctic blasts by heavy furs, 
their feet enveloped in huge shoes of straw. At night, the 
lights of the city of Stockholm, its hotels, towers and palaces, 
are reflected in the ice and the snow. The lovers of winter 
sport, who have come from every country to witness the 
Nordiska Spelen, dance out the evening in a ballroom, or 
else witness at the Royal Opera a performance of national 
dances. During the Northern Games, Stockholm becomes 
par excellence the Winter Capital. 



270 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Almost as soon as the child learns to walk, he puts on his 
skates. In artistic skating, in the ability to perform daring 
feats, and to engrave eagles and intricate 
Skating. figures on the ice, Swedish skaters have won 
first prizes both at home and abroad. In 
speed, in straight-away sprints also, they excel. A form of 
ice sport much cultivated is that of skating with a sail. It 
is difficult to make headway against the wind, but by holding 
a huge sail behind him, the skater can attain, before a stiff 
breeze, a speed of 50 knots an hour. 

When winter freezes the numerous inland lakes and bays and 
indentations of the coast, the more daring devotees of sport 
put forth everywhere with ice yachts. On 
Yachts wa * ers near Stockholm, when the ice is 

good, it is possible to count fifty of these 
fleet craft pursuing each other with incredible speed. 

In summer, these same waters are white with sails. Sailing, 
since the days of the Vikings, has been the most beloved of 
all summer sports in the archipelago about 
S Sp^Jts er Stockholm. The Royal Swedish Yacht Club 
of Stockholm is the largest club of its kind in 
the world, both in number of members and number of boats. 
For their construction qualities, Swedish built yachts have 
won prizes abroad. Practically every town with a water 
front has its own local boat club. 

In swimming, both sexes show great skill and endurance. 

In diving, Swedes carried off first honours at 
Swimming. the last two Olympic Games. A special 
diving accomplishment is the beautiful " swan 

leap/' 

There are several forms of ball game peculiar to Sweden, 
notably the game of Park, from the Island of Gotland. 

Cricket is played somewhat. Lawn tennis is 
Games popular, as everywhere in civilised countries. 

King Gustav V excels in this game, and is 
often seen at the nets of the Royal Lawn Tennis Club. In 



Victors in the Fifth Olympiad 271 

recent years, football has become the most popular of all 
team sports, and international matches are played with 
clubs from other countries, including England, Belgium, and 
Denmark. 

The forests afford excellent facilities for shooting wild 
game. The Royal Elk Hunt, on the Hunneberg, in West 
Gotaland, is one of the most exciting hunts 
Hunting. in Europe ; here, on some occasions, as many 
as fifty of these stately animals are laid low. 
Aviation is practised by military officers. A story is told 
of a certain Major Cederstrom, who, in the early days of the 
aeroplane, vowed to return from Paris to 
Aviation. Swedish soil via the air. He reached Copen- 
hagen, and for weeks sought in vain to fly 
over the Oresund to Malmo, in southern Sweden. At last, 
the wind favoured him, and he landed in Skane, where the 
delighted population rushed out to give him an ovation. 
There is a story, too, of an officer who won a steeplechase in 
Sweden and the same day flew over the Sound to Klampen- 
borg, in Denmark, where he mounted another horse and won 
his second race, afterwards returning through the air to 
Sweden. 

The organisation of sport in local clubs grouped about 

central societies is almost as thorough and complete as that 

of the Established Church. Practically all 

°r rg A?u? a i lon lines concentrate in the National League of 
or Athletics. _ . . . lATiii- 

Swedish Gymnastic Societies and Athletic 

Clubs, founded in 1903. The League offers medals of three 

grades, bronze, silver, and gold. When the athlete has 

passed a certain test in the form of sport in question, he 

receives a bronze medal ; if he passes the same standard for 

four years, he is given a silver medal ; for eight years of 

athletic proficiency his reward is the gold medal. Another 

public-spirited society is the Central Association for the 

Advancement of Sports. This Association has opened 

athletic fields in various communities, and provided the 



272 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



splendid field of Ostermalm, at Stockholm. On its invitation, 
the Fifth Olympiad was held in Stockholm. It was the 
Central Association, also, that started the Nordiska 
Spelen. 

Rivalry between the school teams seems to be only in its 
beginning. Attempts are now made to arrange contests 
between the Universities of Lund and Uppsala, and, across 
the border, with the Universities of Copenhagen and Chris- 
tiania, after the model of intercollegiate games in England 
and America. Such contests, it is hoped, will lead to the 
development, not only of sport, but of friendly feeling among 
the youth of the three Northern countries. 

The leading figure in the organisation 
Balck. of sport in Sweden is Major-General V. G. 
Balck (1844). 

Camping, canoeing, mountain climbing, tramping, and, in 

general, long expeditions in the open air are encouraged by 

the Swedish Tourist Association, which 

The Tourist num b er ed, in 1912, 55,601 members, under 
Association. ' . , ' 

the protection of King Gustav V. The 

Association issues a richly-illustrated Year Book of about 
400 pages, free to members, who pay an annual fee of three 
kronor, publishes guide-books, gives prizes for photographs, 
arranges lectures, and organises expeditions of school children 
in summer ; in short, does everything in its power to spread a 
knowledge of the country and to awaken a popular interest 
in its inhabitants and natural scenery, in the graves of the 
Stone Age and the old castles of southern Sweden, as well as 
in the forests and rivers of the central district, or the moun- 
tains of Jemtland and Lapland in the north. The Association 
has placed a flotilla of boats on the remote Lappish lakes 
and established a tourist station on one of them at Abisko, 
which may be used as the base of expeditions to many peaks, 
including the highest summit of Sweden, the Kebnekaise 
(6,963 feet in height). 

In the compulsory gymnastics prescribed throughout the 



Victors in the Fifth Olympiad 



273 



country, the schools make up for what they may lack in 
spontaneous games. The founder of the Swedish gymnastic 
system was Per Henrik Ling (1776-1839). In 1805 Ling 
became fencing-master at the University of 

Gymnaftics Lund - In 1813 the Central Institute of 
Gymnastics was established at Stockholm, 
where, ever since, the physical directors of Swedish schools 
have been taught the Ling system. It is employed, also, in 
army and navy. In general, the Ling method relies on free 
movements of the limbs without the use of dumb-bells and 
complicated instruments. Here and there, the Ling gym- 
nastics have been introduced in Norway, Denmark, England, 
Belgium, France, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Japan, and 
the United States. 

Dancing exercises, based on folk dances, are also employed 
in the schools, and have been borrowed by other countries. 

In Denmark, the dance is, perhaps, even more 
Dances. in favour as a means of physical education. 

The Danish system of physical culture, its 
followers claim, is less stiff, rigid, and severe than the 
Swedish. They affirm that the Swedish method is military, 
the Danish joyous and aesthetic, and certainly better adapted 
to girls. American schools are experimenting with both 
systems. In the United States, books of Scandinavian song 
dances are in circulation, and both Swedish and Danish folk 
dances are taught in the public schools of several cities. In 
1913, George Brandes, the Danish critic, was invited to 
witness in Central Park, in New York, 2,000 American 
children from the primary schools dancing the folk measures 
of both Sweden and Denmark. 

The system for healing diseases and 
^e^cal S deformities by gymnastic exercises founded 
Gymnastics, by Dr. Gustaf Zander, in 1857, has also met 
with general recognition, not only throughout 
Sweden, but abroad. 
The profession of masseur is a highly respectable one, 



274 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



practised sometimes by members of the nobility. The 
training is more exacting than that required, in some 

countries, of a physician. As a result, 
Massage. Swedish masseurs are preferred above others 

in England and America. 
The introduction of school gymnastics, the military training, 
the development of sports and of life in the open, have been 

accompanied by a marked increase in the 
L °Rate 6ath health of the nation. Sweden and Norway 

enjoy the lowest death rate in Europe. 
During the last hundred years infant mortality in Sweden 
has been cut to a third, while the total death rate decreased 
steadily from 26 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants in the first 
decade of the nineteenth century to 13 deaths per 1,000 in 
1909. 



CHAPTER XXV 



THE NOBEL PRIZES AND OTHER ENDOWMENTS 

The Swede is a generous giver, a liberal spender. He receives 
a guest or wayfarer with an open hospitality, an almost 

princely magnanimity that the unfriendly 
Generosity, critic may mistake for pride. He is equally 

large-handed in answering appeals for con- 
tributions to missions and benevolent undertakings. The 
spirit of philanthropy has filled the land with institutions for 
public betterment. 

So open-minded is the Swede that he will give to a foreign 
cause as readily as to one at home. He will entertain a 

stranger from abroad more lavishly than one 

Open- j own p e0 p} e welcome his ideas, and 
mindedness. r r . 

indulge in scathing criticism of Swedish life 

and customs, inviting his guest to do likewise. He will send 

him away with presents far beyond his means. The more 

disinterested the gift, the more the giving appeals to him. 

Most remarkable in this respect was the bequest of Alfred 

Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. Instead of donating his 

vast fortune for benevolent purposes at 

T Beque°st el home ' the wealth that durin g his lifetime 
had come to him from all nations he left, at 
his death in 1896, to be distributed annually in prizes open 
to the whole world for those who, in the time immediately 
preceding the award, should have conferred the greatest 
benefit on mankind. 

Alfred Nobel belonged to a family of inventors and princes 
of finance. His father, Imanuel Nobel, inventor of nitro- 
glycerine and the submarine mine, was a technical genius of 
the first rank, who carried on activities of a large nature both 
in Sweden and in Russia. Two of his sons Robert Hjalmar 

275 



276 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



and Ludvig Imanuel, founded the naphtha industry at Baku 
in Russia, one of the largest and most successful industrial 
undertakings of the nineteenth century. The 

NobeL third son ' Mired Nobel > born in 1833 > in 
Stockholm, added to his fame as inventor of 

the explosive that he hoped would silence war for all time 

an immortality still more enduring, as founder of one of the 

world's greatest agencies for the promotion of idealistic 

effort and international goodwill. 

The Nobel Foundation was endowed with more than 

30,000,000 kronor. From this amount a sum was deducted 

for administration, and 300,000 kronor each 

Foundation. to or g anise the five prize-giving bureaus. 

Each year, one-tenth of the interest is added 
to the capital, and one-fourth of the rest devoted to the 
expenses attendant on awarding the prizes. The three- 
fourths remaining annual interest is divided equally into five 
prizes, the value of each of which amounted, in 1913, to 
143,010 kronor, or roughly, £8,000 ($40,000). 

According to the terms of Nobel's will, the five prizes are 
awarded : " One to the person who in the domain of Physics 

has made the most important discovery or 
Prizes invention ; one to the person who has made 

the most important Chemical discovery or 
invention ; one to the person who has made the most impor- 
tant discovery in the domain of Medicine or physiology ; 
one to the person who in Literature has provided the most 
excellent work of an idealistic tendency ; and one to the 
person who has worked most or best for the Fraternisation 
of Nations, and the abolition or reduction of standing 
armies and the calling in and propagating of peace congresses." 

These prizes are not awarded by one central jury. ■ For this 
purpose, Nobel designated four bodies of scholars to act as 
prize-giving committees. Two prizes, those for physics and 
chemistry, are awarded by the Swedish Academy of Science ; 
that for physiological or medical work by the Caroline Institute 



Nobel Prizes and other Endowments 277 



(the faculty of medicine in Stockholm) ; that for literature by 
the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The peace-prize is 

given now, as before the separation of Sweden 
Commftteef anc * Norway, by a committee of five persons 

elected by the Norwegian Storting. 
The prize-giving bodies are allowed to erect buildings, to 
organise libraries, and to employ experts as a machinery for 

determining the awards. Thus, three " Nobel 
Institutes Institutes " have already been established. 

The first is maintained by the Swedish 
Academy, which awards the Prize for Literature, and contains 
a library for all important modern works of a humanistic 
nature. The second institute is devoted to physical chemistry 
and is maintained by the Academy of Sciences. The third is 
the Norwegian Nobel Institute, a bureau devoted to the 
study of peace. 

Since the first award in 1901, the prizes were distributed 
each year on the 10th December, the anniversary of the 

testator's death. In this year ( 1914) , however, 

the day has been advanced to a later date. 

The prize-winner must present himself at 
Stockholm or Christiania, as the case may be, to receive 
formally the award. No candidate may nominate himself. 
He must be nominated by a scholar or an institution duly 
authorised according to the statutes of the various Nobel 
Committees. 

The list of prize-winners embraces practically every country 
in Europe, and includes America and Asia. At least eleven 
prizes have been given to candidates from 
VWnners English-speaking countries : for physics, to 
Baron Rayleigh in 1904, J. J. Thomson in 
1906, A. A. Michelson in 1907 ; for chemistry, to Sir William 
Ramsay in 1904, Ernest Rutherford in 1908 ; for medicine, to 
Sir Ronald Ross in 1902, A. Carrel in 1912 ; for literature, to 
Rudyard Kipling in 1907 ; and for peace, to Sir William Cremer 
in 1903, Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, and Elihu Root in 1913. 



278 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



The Prize for Literature is the one that has awakened the 
most general interest throughout the world. Prudhomme, 
Mommsen, Bjornson, Mistral and Echegaray 

Literature ( the prize was ^^ed * n 1904 ) » Sienkiewicz, 
Carducci, Kipling, Eucken, Lagerlof, Heyse, 
Maeterlinck, Hauptmann, were the successful candidates of 
the first twelve years. In 1913 the Swedish Academy showed 
its wide international vision by including India, and naming 
the poet Rabindranath Tagore. This fact alone was enough 
to create a demand for translations of Tagore throughout 
English-speaking countries. As evidence of Swedish impar- 
tiality, it may be noted that the Prize for Literature has only 
once been given to a Swede. A humorous commentary on 
this tendency to go far afield was furnished by a German 
comic paper which pictured a scene on the Polar ice, 
where Roald Amundsen, the explorer, was in the act 
of presenting a laurel wreath and the prize for literature 
awarded by the Swedish Academy to an astounded Eskimo 
poet. 

It is generally accepted that, in the mind of the testator, 
one of the purposes of the Nobel Prize was to reward idealism, 
unremunerative effort in the cause of science 
th£ P Prizes* an( ^ humanity, to crown, for example the 
labours of a chemist, who toils in the labora- 
tory day and night to complete an experiment that may 
never bring him a farthing. In criticism of the awards, it 
is said that the prizes have usually been given to men and 
women who have already achieved both fame and material 
prosperity. In answer to this charge, it is only necessary to 
point out the impossibility of awarding prizes except on the 
basis of accomplished results. The prize-winners, moreover, 
have, without exception, been idealists, and if some of them, 
like Nobel himself, are also practical men of affairs, that is 
merely their good fortune. 

The Swedish Academy (Svenska Akademien), who award 
the Nobel Prize for Literature, was founded in 1786 upon 



Nobel Prizes and other Endowments 279 



the model of the French Academy, " to work for the purity, 
strength, and elevation of the Swedish Lan- 

T AcaSy? h There are ^teen members, 

colloquially called " immortals/ ' 
The Swedish Academy must not be confused with the six 
other Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy of Sciences 
(K. Vetenskaps- Akademien) consists of, ap- 
Academies proximately, one hundred members ; it is 
this body who award the Nobel Prizes for 
physics and for chemistry. The other Royal Academies are : 
The Academy for Literature, History, and Antiquities (K. 
Vitterhets-Historie-och Antikvitetsakadimieri) ; The Agricul- 
tural Academy (K. Lantbruks-Akademien) ; The Academy 
of Arts (K. Akademien For de Fria Konsterna) ; The Academy 
of War Science (K. Krigsvetenskaps Akademien) ; and The 
Academy of Music (K. Musikaliska Akademien). Most of 
these organisations have their own quarters in Stockholm 
and their own endowments, besides receiving yearly grants 
from the State. 

In addition to the Nobel Foundation, the country is richly 
provided with prize-giving funds and educational endowments. 

The Letterstedt Fund, for example, amounting 
Endowments *° a m ^ on kronor, is devoted to promoting 
community of interest in science, industry, 
and arts in the three Scandinavian countries. Some bequests 
have curious and complicated provisions. In 1863 a Finnish 
merchant, E. J. Langman, left a public endowment, ^the interest 
of which may not be used until the capital grows to 100,000,000 
kronor. By the end of 1912, the property had reached the 
value of 3,900,000 kronor. 

The principal museums of art are the National Museum, in 
Stockholm, and the Gothenburg Museum. Both include 
remarkable collections of modern Swedish 
Museums. paintings. In the building of the National 
Museum is housed the Historical Museum, 
with a collection of antiquities, stone axes, bronze shields, 
19— (2384) 



280 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



vessels of chased gold, and iron spears, that form a graphic 
and continuous record of civilisation in Sweden during 4,000 
years, through the Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron. Most 
characteristic, however, of all Swedish Museums, is the 
Northern Museum and Skansen, its open-air department, 
with their ethnological collections, described above in the 
chapter about sloyd. 

The largest libraries are the Royal Library in Stockholm, 
which contained, in 1913, 400,000 volumes, 1,000,000 

pamphlets, and 11,000 manuscripts; the 
Libraries. library of Uppsala University, containing 

400,000 volumes and 15,000 manuscripts ; 
and that at Lund University, numbering 200,000 volumes. 
Every high school and community is provided with a loan 
library open to the public, and there are in Stockholm several 
libraries for special subjects. After the Royal and University 
Libraries of Copenhagen, the Royal Library in Stockholm 
and the University Library in Uppsala have the richest store 
of Icelandic manuscripts from the Middle Ages. As a rule, 
the librarians are ambitious to give quick and efficient service, 
and to this end are introducing methods borrowed from the 
United States. 

While Denmark and Norway have each only one University, 
at Copenhagen and Christiania respectively, Sweden, with 
her larger population, supports two State 

Universities Universities ; one in central Sweden, at 
Uppsala, founded in 1477, the other in 
the south, in the formerly Danish province Skane, at 
Lund, founded in 1668. In addition, the State maintains 
a medical faculty in Stockholm, called the Caroline Institute. 
There are, moreover, both in Stockholm and Gothenburg, 
so-called " high schools," private institutions, which, in 
the quality of their instruction, actually rank as universities. 
Outside of the country, there are two universities founded 
by Swedes, the one at Helsingfors in Finland, the other 
at Dorpat, the oldest university of Russia. The University 



Nobel Prizes and other Endowments 281 



of Greifswald was also a Swedish institution from 1648 to 1815. 
Likewise, the Swedes in -America have established creditable 
institutions of higher learning, such as Augustana College in 
Illinois, and Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. ; 

Student life at Uppsala and Lund is largely associated with 
the " Nations/' each student being obliged to enrol himself 
in one of thirteen '' nations," according to 
S Ufe nt geographical district from which he 

comes. At Uppsala, each nation has a 
separate house, and the buildings, which resound at night 
with the songs of Bellman and of Wennerberg, give to the 
town a vague suggestion of Oxford or Cambridge. The 
nations are, however, more like clubs than colleges ; 
instruction is given in the main University building, and the 
students lodge, for the most part, in private houses. At 
Lund the nations are all housed in one " Academic Union." 
The Swedish student is distinguished by his white cap. In 
1912, there were 2,383 students at Uppsala, and 1,236 at 
Lund. Since the separation from Norway, in 1905, the 
student world appears to be living down its reputation for 
gay living and taking itself very seriously as part of 
the fabric of the nation. 

The chief engineering schools are the 
^Schools** Technical Institute of Stockholm, and the 
Chalmers Technical School at Gothenburg. 
The elementary and intermediate school system of Sweden 
resembles that of Denmark, outlined above, 
Instruction ^ u t n2iS ^ een reduced, perhaps, to a more 

simple and systematic basis. 
There are excellent schools for defectives. Among recent 
experiments is the so-called " Little Home," in Stockholm, 
for children of syphilitic parents. The 
General hospital system and the organisation of 
Betterment, social hygiene is thorough and complete. 

In addition, there are hundreds of societies 
actively engaged in campaigns for popular education and 



282 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



public betterment. Among them are the Young Woman's 
Christian Association (" K.F.U.K."), the labour unions, 
benefit and burial associations, societies for securing to 
industrial workers their own homes in the country, for checking 
emigration, for obtaining pension funds for old age. There 
are also temperance leagues, societies to fight tuberculosis, to 
preserve the beauties of natural scenery, to protect animals, 
and to propagate the doctrine of world peace. 



CHAPTER XXVI 



SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS 

It is commonly asserted by the Swedes themselves that they 
are poor interpreters of human kind. A Swede will estimate 
his boon companion casually as a " jolly 

3°ci25£? good fellow " ; while a Dane ' after half - an - 

hour of association with a chance acquain- 
tance, will describe his personal eccentricities in telling and 
picturesque phrases. A Dane is born a psychologist. 
Living on their tiny islands, he and his fellows come hourly 
into close association. Rapid and incessant conversation 
has eliminated so many sounds in their speech that the 
spoken word seems, to the foreigner, to have little relation 
to the written language. The Swedes, on the other hand, 
live in a vast country, where the homes are often far apart, 
and speech is sometimes even limited to the telephone. They 
have retained in their language many of the old consonants 
and declensions of mediaeval times. They derive as much 
joy from communion with nature as from conversation with 
men. Their literature is weak in character studies and in 
drama, excepting Strindberg, but strong in lyric poetry and 
prose descriptions of nature. 

If lacking, as native critics assert, in clever interpreters of 
human character — dramatists, diplomats, and merchants — 

Sweden has amply demonstrated her national 
Science genius for natural science. Her roll of honour 

includes notable botanists, geologists, 
physicists, chemists, and geographers. Apparently, every 
well educated Swede knows the Latin names of the flowers 
that grow by the roadside. Fondness for nature, whose 
sternest aspects the Swede has so often to meet and overcome, 
is a distinctive national characteristic. 

m 



284 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



There seems to be also inherent in this people a marvellous 
mechanical proficiency that has been rapidly developed during 

the era of machinery. Swedish engineers and 
Me sktn iCal inventors have made their scientific researches 

of service, not only to their own country, but 
to the world at large. It is said that the earliest manifested 
instinct of the Swedish schoolboy is to construct a machine. 
Put a complicated piece of mechanism into his hands ; within 
a fortnight he will have studied and mastered its details and 
will think out improvements. If the machine breaks down, 
it is a bad accident indeed the damage from which he cannot 
repair. 

Humanistic studies are conducted according to the modern 
German method, as sciences. There have been many notable 

theologians, ,from the time of Saint Brigitta, 
Scholarship, the mystic, who lived in the fourteenth 

century, and Olaus Petri, the reformer of the 
sixteenth century, to the days of Professor Nathan Soderblom 
(1866), the present Archbishop of Uppsala. Among the 
philosophers, Kristofer Bostrom (1797-1866) and Pontus 
Wikner (1837-88) were highly esteemed. At Lund University 
Professor A. Herrlin (1870) is conducting important psycho- 
logical experiments. The senior professorships of Old 
Northern philology are held by Adolf Noreen (1354) at 
Uppsala, Gustaf Cederschiold (1849) at Gothenburg, and 
Axel Kock (1851) at Lund. Noreen's " Old Northern 
Grammar " is used wherever the Old Scandinavian languages 
are studied, and his vast treatise, " Our Language/' which 
began to appear in instalments in 1903, marks a new era in 
the science of languages. The universities have such dis- 
tinguished students of. the romance languages as ' Frederik 
Wulff (1845) of Lund, Johan Vising (1855) of Gothenburg, 
C. W. Wahlund (1846-1913), and E. S. Staaf (1867) of Uppsala ; 
Professor Erik Bjorkmann (1872), of Uppsala, i§ a-.speicialist 
in the history of the English language. A brilliant writer on 
universal history is Professor Harald Hjarne « (1848), of 



Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

OSCAR MONTELIUS 



Science and Inventions 285 



Uppsala. The history of Swedish literature has been recently 
written, in collaboration, by Henrik Schiick (1855), Rector 
or President of Uppsala and Professor Karl Warburg 
(1852), of the University of Stockholm. The study of modern 
art is ably represented by the essayist Carl Laurin (1868), 
and that of mediaeval; art by Professor Osvald Siren, of 
Stockholm. The science of pedagogy has been advanced, 
among others, by Anna Sandstrom (1854), who reorganised 
the schools for women, and Fridtjuv Berg (1851), who improved 
the free school system and was Minister of Education under 
the last Liberal regime. , Professor Gustaf F. Steffen (1854), 
of Gothenburg, has become an authority upon all matters 
relating to social conditions in England. 

Oscar Montelius (1843), former antiquary of the realm, is 
one of the founders of the science of modern archaeology. 

Montelius is. r said to have a more exact 
Montelius. knowledge of the implements and the habits 

of the people ,of Sweden 2,000 years before 
Christ than that any living man possesses of daily life at the 
present time. 

In 1910, a Chair of Statistics was created at the University 
of Uppsala, and Professor Gustav Sundbarg (1857) became 

its first occupant. Sundbarg is renowned 
Sundbarg. not only for the enormous tomes which he 

has published as statistician for the Govern- 
ment, but for a thin book of aphorisms, entitled Swedish 
Character, defining the leading traits of the national tempera- 
ment. This little book has gone through many editions, 
caroused opposition in Denmark and Norway, and probably 
exercised a more profound correcting influence upon national 
character than any tract of modern times, save the Warning 
Word of Sven Hedin, about national defences. The vast 
collections of facts and statistics acquired by Sundbarg in 
editing The Land and People of Sweden have been compressed 
into these 150 pages of theory recorded in a highly aesthetic 
style. 



286 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 

The study of geography has been facilitated by various 
voyages of Arctic exploration. Among them may be men- 
tioned the navigation by Adolf Nordenskiold 
Nordenskiold. (1832-1901) of the North-East Passage, above 
Siberia, on the Vega, in 1878 and 1879 ; the 
Antarctic expedition of O. Nordenskiold (1869) in 1901-1904, 
and the ill-fated balloon flight of S. A. Andree (1854) toward 
the North Pole, in 1897. 

All previous Swedish explorations have been eclipsed in 
daring and cartographical results by the five journeys into 
the heart of Asia of Sweden's Marco Polo, 

Hettn Sir Sven Hedin ( 1865 )' Hedin has ex P lored 
the Sea of Lob-Nor, the Desert of Taklamakan, 

the Tarim River, penetrated remotest Thibet, discovered a 
hitherto unsuspected mountain range, to which he gave the 
name " Transhimalaya/' and traced the sources of the Indus 
and the Bramaputra. 

Among her medical experts, Sweden has one Nobel Prize- 
man, Allvar Gullstrand (1862), who won the Prize for Medicine 
in 1911, for his experiments upon the retina 
Medicine. of the eye. J. V. Berg (1851) is the dis- 
tinguished surgeon who operated upon King 
Gustaf, in 1914. For discoveries in anatomy, Anders Retzius 
(1796-1860), and for treatments of disease, Magnus Huss 
(1807-90), have achieved renown in other lands. 

Anders Retzius laid the foundations of the modern science 
of anthropology by classifying the races of men according to 
the shape of the skull into dolichocephalic and 
Retzius. br achy cephalic, " long heads " and " round 
heads/' Gustaf Retzius, his son (1842), 
aided by a staff of scientists, has completed two comprehensive 
works : Crania Suecica Antiqua (1900), dealing with the form 
of the skull in Sweden in the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages ; 
and Anthropologia Suecica (1902), an exhaustive study of 
skull, stature, colour of eyes and hair of to-day, as found in 
the various provinces of Sweden. 



Science and Inventions 



287 



Among botanists of all ages and nations, there is no more 
illustrious name than that of Karl von Linne (1707-1778), 
Professor of Botany and Medicine for thirty- 
Linnaeus, seven years at Uppsala. He carried on an 
ever restless activity as investigator, not only 
as a botanist, but also as a zoologist and geologist. He 
divided the plant world into sixty-seven families, and animals 
he classified scientifically. To this day the Swedish people 
have a predilection for botany, and there are many specialists 
devoting themselves to the study of the country's native flora. 
One among them is Professor Otto Rosenberg (1872), of the 
University of Stockholm, a devoted student of cell life of plants. 

Agriculture has also developed from an 
Agriculture, occupation to a science. An eminent specialist 
is Professor H. Juhlin Dannfelt (1852), in 

Stockholm. 

S. Loven, the zoologist (1809-95), was an 
Zoology. authority concerning the animal life of the 
Arctic and of the deep sea. 
Baron G. De Geer, the geologist (1858), assisted by students 
from the universities, has charted the strata marking the 
receding edge of the ice, year by year, in 
Geology. Sweden at the end of the Glacial Period. He 
hopes to pursue similar investigations in 
America, in the valley of the Hudson River. 
The wealth of mines and minerals has stimulated the study 
of mineralogy. Dr. Hjalmar Lundbohm 
Mineralogy. (1853), director of the Kiruna mines, and 
many others have achieved distinction in this 
important province of research. 

Professor G. Mittag-Leffler (1846) is the dean of Swedish 
mathematicians. It may be remembered that the learned 
Russian woman, Sonja Kovalevski (1853-91), 
Mathematics, gave her mathematical lectures in Stockholm. 

As for applied mathematics, Professor Ivar 
Fredholm (1866) has developed the theory of elasticity. 



288 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Professor V. W. Ekman (1872), at Lund, has demonstrated 
the laws of hydro-dynamics. 

The most celebrated astronomer of Scandinavia was a 
Dane, Tycho Brahe (1546), the site of whose 
Astronomy. observatory, the island of Hven, is now 

Swedish territory. 
For achievements in the sciences of meteorology and 
hydrography, the nation can point back to Anders Celsius 
(1701-44), who devised the Celsius or 
Celsius. Centigrade thermometer, zero being the 
freezing point and 100° the boiling point of 
water. Meteorological stations have been distributed through- 
out the country. Important hydrographic investigations 
have been performed by Otto Pettersson (1848). 

Any enumeration of physicists would be incomplete which 
did not contain the names of Anders Angstrom (1814-74), 
a specialist in spectral analysis, and K. 
Physics. Angstrom (1857-1910), investigator of the 
suns rays and constructor of the 
pyrheliometer, a device for measuring the heat of the sun. 

The names of at least two Swedes are known in all the 
chemical laboratories of the world : Karl Vilhelm Scheele 
(1742-86), discoverer of oxygen, and Jons 

S BSius nd J akob Berzelius (1779-1848), who determined 
the atomic weights of elements and introduced 
the chemical nomenclature now in use everywhere. 

The Nobel .Prize for Chemistry was won in 1903 by a 
Arrhenius Swede, Svante Arrhenius (1859). Arrhenius 
is the originator of the theory of electrolytic 
dissociation upon which modern electro-chemistry is based. 

In addition to the manifold discoveries made by Swedes in 
the domain of pure science, they have been the inventors of 
many ^practical appliances used the world 
Inv^rtions over in manufacturing and commerce. Ten 
such inventions will be briefly recorded in 
the following pages. , 



Science and Inventions 289 



First in importance to commerce is the invention, by John 
Ericsson (1803-1889), of the screw propeller which facilitated 
steam navigation. Early in his career, 
^opeller W Ericsson went to England, where he parti- 
cipated in the contest of models of locomotives 
at Rainhill, in 1829, which was won by Stephenson, his 
English competitor. In 1836, Ericsson took out a patent 
for the screw propeller, and three years later, when a steel 
ship was ordered by the United States Navy, constructed in 
England and supplied with his machinery, Ericsson followed 
it to America. Here, during the Civil War, he devised the 
round turreted iron-clad Monitor, which, flying the flag of 
the Union, defeated the Confederate ram Merrimac, at 
Hampton Roads, 9th March, 1861, thus preventing the 
supremacy of the South on the seas. Among the Swedes in 
America, Ericsson s name is to this day blazoned with that 
of Lincoln as another preserver of the Union, and his birthday 
is celebrated with banquets and patriotic speeches. 

The first practical application of the Bessemer process for 
the reduction of steel was also made by a Swede, G. F. 

Goransson (1819-1900). In 1855 and 1856, 
Steel. Sir Henry Bessemer, in England, effected 
little progress toward perfecting his method 
of refining steel from pig iron by forcing, air through the 
molten metal. After a long series of experiments and altera- 
tions in the furnace, at Edsten, in Sweden, on 18th July, 
1858, Goransson caused the first blowing that yielded a 
ready flowing steel, of close grain, easy to be tapped, and 
excellent in test forging. He used a pig iron initially rich in 
manganese, and stopped his blow before much oxygen had 
been taken up. His method was applied at home and abroad. 
Goransson became manager of the works at Sandviken, which 
still produce a quality of steel that long was the peer of 
any. ■ 

The name of Alfred Nobel (1833-96) is usually associated 
with his great humanitarian foundation rather than with the 



290 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



invention of dynamite, which was the source of his vast 
wealth. Nobel obtained dynamite by mixing nitro-glycerine 
with infusorial earth, thus producing a solid 
Dynamite. explosive substance, less dangerous to 
handle than nitro-glycerine. He opened his 
first factory at Vinterviken, near Stockholm, in 1867. He 
invented a still more powerful explosive, known as blasting 
gelatine, manufactured one of the earliest smokeless powders, 
and many other explosives. Other explosive agents have 
been produced by Swedish inventors, such as bellite, with 
its improvement, bellona, the invention of C. Lamm, a 
powerful explosive, as harmless as wax in ordinary handling. 

A fourth invention of international use is the safety match. 
In 1844, G. E. Pasch (1788-1862) made the discovery that 
matches containing no phosphorus could be 
Th Match Cty ignited, by rubbing against a surface con- 
taining amorphous phosphorus. In 1852, the 
match factory at Jonkoping commenced to manufacture the 
safety matches which were adjudged at the international 
exhibition in Paris, in 1855, the best of their kind. The 
little boxes labelled Jonkopings Sdkerhetstdndstickor ("Safety 
Matches ") are familiar to the remotest quarters of the globe. 
In the Scandinavian countries, the use of safety matches is 
required by law, and the importation of even English wax 
matches inhibited. 

The use of butter throughout the world has become more 
general since the invention, in 1878, of the separator by 
Gustaf de Laval (1845-1913). This machine 

c The , divides the cream from the milk by a quick 
Separator. J * 

centrifugal process, and has supplanted the 
old, slow method of skimming. Denmark has profited more 
even than her sister country by this invention, and become 
the world's greatest exporter of butter. De Laval and other 
Swedes have patented machines for combined skimming and 
churning, also mechanical cow-milking and other dairy 
devices. 



Science and Inventions 



291 



Among inventions of service at sea are two noteworthy 
marine patents — a boat davit and a non-capsizable lifeboat. 

The former is the invention of A. Welin 
T Da4° at ( 1862 )' The headquarters of the Welin 
Marine Equipment Company are in London. 
Welin has also patented a device for the breech-loading of 
cannon. 

The non-sinkable lifeboat was perfected in New York in 
1914, by the Swedish captain, A. P. Lundin, and successfully 
passed searching sea tests undertaken by the 
The Non- American Government. The Lundin boat is 

sinks. Die 

Lifeboat. made of steel, with fenders of balsa wood 
from South America, which is 40 per cent, 
lighter than cork. The boat will float in a collapsed condition, 
even after it has turned turtle. Captain Lundin had embarked 
on a voyage across the Atlantic in one of his 30-foot power- 
propelled boats when he was induced to return by news of 
the outbreak of war in Europe. 

J. G. Richert (1857), formerly Professor at the Royal 
Institute of Technology, has invented an artificial ground 
water system and planned a large number of 
H Works 1C hydraulic works. He is director of various 
public service commissions that demand 
special technical knowledge. 

Another invention of considerable industrial moment is the 
well-nigh frictionless ball-bearing patented by Sven Wingquist 
(1876) and known to the world as " S.K.F." 
Bearins * s ball-bearing is self-aligning and is manu- 

factured in sizes from a fortieth of a pound to 
300 pounds. A factory for the manufacture was established 
at Gothenburg in 1907 ; it has distributing centres in Berlin, 
Paris, London, Vienna, Petrograd, New York, Melbourne, 
Buenos Aires, and Yokohama. 

A recent invention of international usefulness is the Aga 
Signal Light, the patent of the engineer, Gustaf Dal6n (1869). 
This lamp is now being adopted for lighthouses, railroad 



292 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



signals, and other purposes throughout the world. The fuel 
is acetylene gas, which is dissolved in acetone that absorbs 
one hundred times its volume. The lamp is 

T Lamp ga so constructe( i tnat ^ ma Y be regulated to pro- 
duce flashes for any duration, and requires 
that the flame burn only one-tenth of the time, a great 
economic saving. The inventor has provided an automatic 
sun-valve that extinguishes the light during the day, thus 
further diminishing the consumption of gas. Aga lamps 
have been adopted by the Brazilian Government for its capes 
and harbours, and by the Isthmian Canal Commission, to be 
strung along the course of the Panama Canal. They need 
be filled only once a year, and are thus less trouble to the 
Commission than the proverbial eight-day clock to a family. 
Every morning the rising sun quenches the flame, which 
kindles of its own accord at dusk. Dalen, inventor of the 
Aga lamp, was awarded, in 1912, the Nobel Prize for Physics. 
The man who performed such a sendee for light lost the light 
of his own eyes by an explosion. 

The ten patents enumerated above are only a few of the 
countless mechanical devices that have emanated from 
Swedish brains. Swedes have taken out 
Patents patents relating to the construction of cannon, 
the testing of steel, the sulphite process in 
the manufacture of wood pulp, telephone adjustments, the 
magnesia comb for incandescent light, electro-steel smelting, 
type-setting machines, steerable torpedoes, mining imple- 
ments, the radiator, surgical appliances, chemically produced 
silk, the ice-method in dairying, the registering barometer, 
the 3-phase system of transferring electrical power, the 
automatic logarithm calculator, and the Zander systems of 
appliances for medico-mechanical gymnastics. In 1914, 
before the outbreak of the general war, inventors were per- 
fecting a telephone with phonograph attachment, an individual 
electrical plant for the home, the making of benzine from coal 
by electricity, and two methods of manufacturing fertilizers 



Science and Inventions 



293 



by chemical processes that were calculated to supplant the 
electrical forces employed in Norway. Finally, the shortage 
of coal for the railroads when the supply from England was 
curtailed by the European War hastened the investigations 
of scientists at home to discover a means to pulverise peat, 
of which Sweden has rich deposits, and use the powder as 
fuel for locomotives. * 



CHAPTER XXVII 



ELECTRIFYING THE RAILROADS 

Sweden has, like Denmark, been handicapped in her industrial 
growth by lack of large deposits of coal. Her manufactures, 

however, enjoy two great advantages that 
wTterfdls nature has denied to Denmark — iron ore and 

waterfalls. Iron ore and its steel products 
have long earned Sweden fame in the marts of the world ; 
formerly the world's largest producer of iron, the Northern 
country has of late been obliged to yield precedence to other 
nations as to quantity, but retained pre-eminence in quality. 
Waterfalls there are in abundance, and that means that, 
instead of being obliged to fetch coals from Newcastle, Sweden 
(like Norway and Switzerland) can utilise the inexhaustible 
power supply within the country's own borders, the " white 
coals " of the waterways ; this source, usually far from 
factory and harbour, is now being made accessible by con- 
version into electric power and transmitted by wire over 
long distances. 

In 1870, 72 per cent, of the entire population of the country 
were engaged in agricultural pursuits and in fisheries, 14 per 
cent, in manufacturing, and 5 per cent, in 

M^ulacUir/s trade * In 1910 ' the a gri cultur alists had 
diminished to 48 per cent., while manufactures 
and trade rose to 33 and 12 per cent, respectively. 

In 1911, machine treated products amounted to about 
2,000,000,000 kronor. As is generally the case in other lands, 
staples of food figured highest at 561,180,000 

The Iron kronor. The forests — the subject of the 
Industry. 

following chapter — yielded the second largest 
amount, 330,964,000 kronor. The mines produced ore 
valued at 53,590,000 kronor, while the foundries realised in 

294 



Electrifying the Railroads 295 



all 196,610,000, and iron manufactures, steel ships, and the 
like 278,610,000. By adding the last three totals, it may be 
seen that the iron industry in one year contributed 500,000,000 
kronor to the wealth of the nation. 

Since remote times, Sweden has produced copper, silver, 
and gold. It is estimated that the great copper mine at Falun 
alone has, during the centuries, yielded metal 
Mining. to the value of 1,000,000,000 kronor. Now, 
copper is practically exhausted. Zinc mines 
are still capable of furnishing 50,000 tons a year. 

Deposits of copper and the precious metals are negligible 
compared to the iron mines, which gave up, in 1912, 6,700,565 
tons of ore. In the eighteenth century, Sweden led the 
nations of the world in the quantity of iron mined. In the 
nineteenth century, discoveries of large deposits elsewhere, 
particularly in America, and of cheap methods of extracting 
low grades of ore, gave to other nations a production of iron 
far in excess of that of Sweden, which now occupies seventh 
place. The grade of the metal in Sweden stands highest. 
In this country is found 92 per cent, of all ore in Europe 
containing more than 60 per cent, of iron. The proportion 
of pure metal in the iron ores of the rest of Europe is estimated 
at 36-7 per cent. ; that in Sweden's ore fields, at 60 per cent. 

The value of the exports of iron ore increased from 284,000 
kronor annually in 1881-85 to 20,469,000 kronor in the 
period from 1901 to 1905 ; in 1911 it reached 
Deposits 11 51,413,000 kronor. The total iron ore 
deposits of Sweden are estimated to contain 
845,000,000 tons of pure metal. Of this amount, 750,000,000 
tons are stored in the iron mountains of Lapland, north of 
the Polar Circle, opened up by the railroad at the end of the 
last century, some of them still conserved by the State 
untouched. The remaining 95,000,000 tons is distributed 
chiefly over the old mines of the central part of the 
country, the largest in point of production being the Taberg, 
Grangesberg, Norberg, Strassa, and Dannemora mines. 

20— (2384) 



296 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



The ore from the mines of Lapland is shipped to other 
countries for smelting, to Germany in particular, as the high 

percentage of phosphorus which it contains 
Foundries. requires more coal for purposes of reduction 

than the country can afford. The low 
phosphorus ores of the central province are in large measure 
worked at home, and along many a waterway rise the sparks 
of foundry and steel mill. Bessemer steel, first made prac- 
ticable for commerce by the native process mentioned in the 
last chapter, is blown at the foundries of Sandviken, the steel 
of which is famed in all metal marts at home and abroad. 
The Scandinavian mills produce annually a value of 11,000,000 
kronor and provide employment for 2,500 workmen. 

The country is famous for articles made from steel and 
wrought iron, such as skates, knives, utensils, instruments 

and machinery. To mention a few of the 
Mills large factories : the Separator Company has 

a capital of 28,000,000 kronor and a reserve 
fund of 14,000,000 ; the Kockum Mills at Malmo, for the 
manufacture of machinery and ships, employ 1,000 workmen ; 
the Bolinder Works at Stockholm, for engines and motors, 
employ an equal number ; the Huskvarna Works produce 
annually 7,400,000 kronor worth of implements of all sorts 
and furnish employment for 1,800 men. There are also the 
Trollhattan Mechanical Shops, the Motala Locomotive Works, 
the Gothenburg Bali-Bearing Factory, the Diesel Motor 
Company, the Scania- Vabis Automobile Company, and the 
Gas-accumulator Company ; and the industries of Eskilstuna, 
Sweden's Sheffield, which employ 4,000 workmen and make 
an annual profit of 14,000,000 kronor. 

To turn all these wheels of industry requires fuel and 
generating power, and merchants have viewed with some 

anxiety their dependence upon foreign lands 

Waterfalls ^ or Coa *' ^° ^ a ^ e ^ e P* ace °* coa ^ e l ec tnc 
power centres are now being erected along 
the waterways. The nation is singularly rich in water-power, 



Electrifying the Railroads 297 



more than one-twelfth of the area being covered by lakes and 
rivers. The construction of these generating centres, with 
which certain parts of the country are already fairly studded, 
was begun by private initiative. Now the Government is 
undertaking the erection of power stations upon an extensive 
scale. An official Hydrographic Bureau continually inves- 
tigates the potentialities of lakes and waterfalls, and upon 
its reports and recommendations the Royal Waterfalls 
Commission undertakes the construction of dams and elec- 
trical works. In 1910 the State completed an electric power 
station of 80,000 h.p. at Trollhattan, the largest waterfall 
in Sweden. The Trollhattan falls are situated near the city 
of Gothenburg and consist of a series of six falls, with a total 
drop of 108 feet and an enormous volume of water, estimated 
to contain 220,000 h.p., sufficient to generate electricity, not 
only for a wide area of southern Sweden, but to transmit a 
current across the sea to Jutland. In 1914 the Waterfalls 
Commission completed a second power station of 50,000 h.p. 
at the Porjus Waterfalls on the Lule River, in Lapland ; 
and, in 1915, a third establishment to furnish 45,000 h.p. is 
to be ready for operation at Alvkarleby. The total horse- 
power of all the waterways is estimated at 6,200,000, being 
second to that of no nation in Europe, save Norway only. 

Stimulated, perhaps, by the shortage of coal, electrical 
engineers have been well abreast of their times. It was a 

Swedish town which first illuminated its 
Tdephone streets by electricity — Harnosand, in 1885. 

The Swedish long-distance telephone is, 
according to the testimony of travellers, the clearest in the 
world. For the number of telephones per inhabitant the 
three Scandinavian countries lead Europe. In 1912 Denmark 
had 39 instruments for each 1,000 inhabitants, Sweden 36, 
Norway 27, while Great Britain had only 15. Stockholm led 
the cities of Europe with one telephone for every five people ; 
London had one for every thirty-three ; Stockholm's record 
was eclipsed by only three American cities, one of which, 



298 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Los Angeles, claimed one receiver for every four of the 
population. In Stockholm, a telephone can be installed for 
as low as 20 kronor a year. The long-distance toll amounts 
to only 2d. for the first fifty miles. The Swedish telephone 
systems have been established in foreign cities, notably in 
Moscow and Mexico City. 

The telegraph system, like the long-distance telephone, is 
operated by the Government and closely connected with the 
postal service. Since 1907 it has been possible 

Tel^raph to sen( * a ^ e S r3m * n Sweden for the astonish- 
ing figure of 25 ore, about half the minimum 
of other European countries, and one-fourth the usual rate 
in the United States. Notwithstanding these apparently 
absurdly low rates, the telegraph system yielded, in 1912, 
8-45 per cent, on the invested capital. 

Despite the high cost of imported coal, the nation has more 
railroads in proportion to the population than any other 
European country, the Swedish figures in 
Railroads 1 1912 being sixteen miles of track for every 
10,000 inhabitants, while the average for all 
Europe was only five miles per 10,000. In proportion to 
area, the railroads fall below the average, due to the vast 
uninhabited tracts in the north of the land. To the south, 
the railroad map presents a network of black lines representing 
the 5,933 miles of privately owned and operated railroads, 
while the red thread of the Government system, 2,863 miles 
long, stretches from the southernmost tip of Skane, where 
the Tralleborg ferry connects the peninsula with Germany, 
north, to where the railroad alone threads its way through 
the forests and across the Arctic tableland. Engineering 
problems include the construction of many difficult bridges. 

The trains are well-appointed as to day coaches and sleeping 
cars. Even third-class coaches attached to night trains are 
provided with sleepers. By the direct ferry connection, in 
1913, 97,002 passengers crossed from Sweden to Germany, 
not including the thousands who travelled by way of Denmark. 



Electrifying the Railroads 299 



Ninety-three out of every hundred passengers travel (1911) 
third class. The earnings of the State railroads, in 1912, 
Were 3-73 per cent., of the private railroads about 5 per cent., 
the low rate of earnings being due largely to the lack of 
native fuel. 

To solve the fuel problem, the Government railroads 
conducted, during the first decade of the new century, a 
series of investigations to determine the 
Ele Railroads P rac ti ca hihty of running the railroads by 
electricity. It was found possible, by regu- 
lating the level of the lakes and harnessing the waterways, 
to establish generating stations in all parts of the country, 
so that every mile of railroad would be within the radius of 
some electric circuit. It was shown, however, that, at the 
present time, the volume of railroad traffic was not sufficient 
to pay for the expense of erecting and maintaining the proposed 
electrical systems. There was only one stretch of railroad 
more than eighty miles long where the heavy tonnage of 
freight reached the point at which it becomes cheaper to 
operate with electric power than with steam. Surprising to 
relate, this strip of rails was above the Arctic Circle, being the 
stretch of track over which the iron ore is transported from 
Kiruna to the Norwegian border. On this railroad the 
freightage, in 1913, amounted to 12,000 tons a day. In 
1910 the Government decided to make a beginning in the 
programme of railroad electrification by electrifying this line 
from Kiruna to the Border, and voted an appropriation of 
21,500,000 kronor to the Royal Waterfalls Commission, with 
which to complete, in 1914, a power station at the waterfall 
of Porjus, on the Lule River, in Lapland. 

It is apparently the intention of patriotic electrical engineers 
to add another to the nation's mechanical and scientific 
achievements by making their country the first to electrify 
all its railroads. 

A visit to Lapland to see the great power station at Porjus 
and the mining camps of Kiruna and Gellivare fed by it, 



300 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



less than half a day's journey by rail apart, is recommended 
to those who wish to form a conception of the nation's 

recent industrial development. The iron 
Lapland. mountain of Gellivare became accessible in 

1888, when the first ore train rolled south, to 
the port of Lulea, on the Gulf of Bothnia. In 1902 the 
settlement at Kiruna, with its iron mountains, was connected 
by rail with Narvik, north, on the coast of Norway. Porjus, 
the third centre of industry in Lapland, forms, with Kiruna 
and Gellivare, a triangle over which is transmitted the 
electrical power developed at Porjus Falls to operate the 
mines and railroads of Lapland. 

Since 1903, to cross Lapland and reach the end of the 
most northern of all railroads at the port of Narvik, consumes 

only two nights and a day from Stockholm 

Th E3ire P ss and b ? the " La P land Express." A French writer 
has described this Grand Express de Laponie 
as a bejewelled phantom of luxurious content hurrying across 
the bleak steppes in the mysterious Northern night. The 
Grand Express runs only three times a week, and pulls into 
Gellivare at 2 a.m. 

The traveller who sets forth from Stockholm by the slower 
train which runs on the alternate days must spend a night at 
Boden, on the Lule River, where he has an 
Boden. opportunity of admiring the -frowning defences 
which make Boden the military key to 
northern Scandinavia. The fear of the Russian Bear and the 
expense of maintaining this outpost may be unwarranted. 
Boden, at least, gives a sense of security to the capitalists 
and industrial workers of Lapland. Via Boden, at the 
outbreak of the war in the summer of 1914, travelled thousands 
of fugitives — Russians, Germans, Americans — fleeing home- 
ward — to whom the regular routes between Berlin and 
Petrograd were barred. 

En route from Boden to Gellivare the traveller may enjoy 
the novel experience of taking a photograph of the " Polar 



Electrifying the Railroads 301 



Circle " — a station called by that name near the longitudinal 
line. The traveller should leave the train at the mining town 

of Gellivare. Here, on the platform, he will 
Gellivare. be met by Lapps, one or two, or a family, 

plying their trade of itinerant peddling, their 
wares consisting of various articles made from the hide and 
bones of the reindeer. The bags which they carry contain 
bone paper-cutters galore, and hunting knives with handles 
engraved with reindeer motifs. So commercialised have these 
little people of the wilderness become by contact with indus- 
trial Sweden, that they demand of the man with a kodak 
a fee for the honour of being photographed. 

If time presses, the tourist may omit the inspection of the 
Gellivare iron mountain, reserving that pleasure for Kiruna, 

and take the branch railroad which will carry 
Porjus. him in an hour west, over the bleak tableland, 

to the great power plant at Porjus waterfall, 
completed in 1914 under the direction of the Royal Waterfalls 
Commission. Here, dam, tunnel, and turbine combine to 
supply 50,000 h.p. capable of generating a current of 80,000 
volts, carried on poles across the wastes of Lapland to Kiruna 
and Gellivare to operate the mines and railroad from Kiruna 
to the Border. At a future date, when the volume of traffic 
has increased, the stretch of railroad that connects Gellivare 
with Lulea, the port from which its ores are shipped over the 
Gulf of Bothnia, will also be electrified. To supply the 
electrical current for this expansion of the system, there are 
additional waterfalls at Porjus and further down. 

The dam and power station of Porjus were constructed 
within a few months by the Royal Waterfalls Commission. 

A town of red frame dwellings quickly sprang 
GranlTolm U P a ^ on S ri ver to shelter the army of 

workmen. The entire operations were in the 
charge of Engineer Granholm, a Swedish Colonel Goethals, 
assisted by a staff of Government engineers. After the 
successful completion of his task, Mr. Granholm was promoted 



302 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



by his Government to the post of Director-General of the 
National Railroads. 

Because of the magnitude of the dam and the precision 
with which the work proceeded during the winter and summer 

of 1912-13, the construction of the Porjus 
and^Cold Power Station was comparable, on a smaller 

scale, to that of the Panama Canal. At 
Panama, however, the engineers had to overcome the draw- 
backs of a tropical climate ; at Porjus, the intense cold and 
Stygian darkness of winter, shadowless nights and the 
mosquitoes of summer. The darkness was dissipated by 
spreading a perpetual halo of electric light above the great 
dam and the City of Workmen — so, too, far away across the 
tableland, the iron mountain of Kirunavara is suffused with 
electricity ; the cold was dispelled by running heated rods 
through the back-water of the dam, and by heating shelters 
for the working-men. One summer foe Panama and Porjus 
had in common — the mosquito. At Panama the enemy 
was practically annihilated ; in Porjus the Swedish engineers 
simply endured, though not in silence, the pest which drives 
the hardy reindeer high up to seek the line of perpetual snow. 

Kiruna, however, the northernmost centre of Swedish 
iron fields, is the greatest industrial marvel of Lapland. In 

1885 the region had not a single house ; 
Kiruna. to-day it is a mining city of more than 10,000 

inhabitants. It boasts of moving-picture 
shows and a Salvation Army. Its tram-line, the most 
northern " trolley " in the world, collects 532,442 fares a 
year. The town fringes in a half-moon the eastern shores of 
Lake Luossajarvi, sloping, like Naples, to the Bay, while the 
iron mountain of Luossavara behind it adds a Vesuvius to 
the comparison. The loftier mountain of Kirunavara, on 
the opposite side of the lake, a mighty hill of iron, is estimated 
to hold 740,000,000 tons of ore, containing often as high as 
70 per cent, pure metal. The workmen of Kirunavara are 
said to be the highest paid miners anywhere east of the 



Electrifying the Railroads 303 



Alleghanies, and though the work is in its infancy, the mines 
are beginning to yield the Kirunavara-Luossavara Company 
3,000,000 tons a year. 

The mining operations at Kiruna afford an example of a 
combination of high finance and national ownership. Just 

as friends of conservation in the United 
Ownership States have urged the Government to assume 

ownership of the coal deposits of Alaska, so 
in Sweden those who feared the spoliation for private profit 
of the mineral wealth of Lapland have advocated Government 
operation of the mines. In 1907 a series of laws was enacted 
effecting a compromise between private and public ownership, 
by which, in lieu of railroads and other concessions granted 
to the Kirunavara-Luossavara Stock Company, the State 
became half-owner of all securities and properties and sole 
owner of the ore vein on Mount Luossavara. The preferred 
and the common stock of the company shall be equal in 
amount and all of the former owned by the State. Thus, 
in 1912, the total capitalisation was 40,000 shares of preferred 
stock and 40,000 of common, each of the par value of 1,000 
kronor, of which the 40,000 preferred shares were the property 
of the nation. 

Of the 40,000 shares of common stock, 39,996 were the 
property of the Grangesberg Traffic Company, a giant com- 
bination of mining capital that had its 
A Tnist ng beginning at the little mine of Grangesberg, in 
central Sweden, which owned, besides the 
Kirunavara-Luossavara Company, a controlling interest 
in fourteen other subsidiary companies. In 1912 the Kiruna 
Company paid a dividend of 45 per cent, on the common 
stock, while the holding corporation, the Grangesberg Traffic 
Company, paid its shareholders 27 per cent. In that year, 
the total value of the properties of the Grangesberg Company 
was recorded at 143,948,714-26 kronor. 

Behind the mining operations of Lapland (1913) is one 
directing mind. He sits at the end of a network of telephones 



304 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



— either in his official residence at Kiruna, or two days 
south, in Stockholm, in the headquarters of the Grangesberg 

Traffic Company. His name is Hjalmar 
Lundbohm. Lundbohm, and he is addressed as " Doctor " 

or Manager — Disponent — of Kiruna. 
To picture Disponent Lundbohm merely as a geologist with 
marvellous administrative powers is to underestimate his 
wonderfully sympathetic personality ; for Dr. Lundbohm is 
a patron of the fine arts, an art critic of no mean ability, and 
a civic and social reformer and educator in the broad sense. 
Boys' clubs, reading rooms, art exhibits, building loans, and 
excellent schools and libraries are among the reforms at 
Kiruna calculated to keep the men who work the mines, and 
their families, in the highest possible state of intelligent 
efficiency. 

Nor are literature and natural science overlooked by the 

Kiruna Company. The corporation subsidises a series of 

books on learned subjects that record the 
A Corporation's ti fl and f th fish and f j of 

Conscience. . 

the Swedish Arctic, now rapidly changing 

before the advance of civilisation. It is, indeed, a corporation 

with a public conscience. 

Disponent Lundbohm publishes at his own expense a series 
of monographs treating the life and customs of the Lapps, 
the original citizens of Lapland. These 
Lapps people continue to live in migrating families, 
following and herding their reindeer, subsisting 
on their milk and dried flesh, clad in their skins, and using 
their bones and horns for utensils. Despite the encroachment 
of railroad and mining camp, the Lapp remains loyal to Lapp 
traditions. In his migration, he usually circles far around 
Kiruna and other camps of industry, avoiding the shining rails 
and the poles that cany the white lightning. Of the 5,589 
Lapps in Sweden in 1900, there were 3,350 nomads. 

What to do for the Lapps ? In Norway, across the Border, 
the Government has attempted to induce the little people to 




A LAPLAND FAMILY 



Electrifying the Railroads 305 



change their wandering life and become farmers. Where 
this has been tried, it has apparently resulted in undermining 
their health and morals. Instead of attempting to alter their 
mode of living, the Swedish authorities, acting upon the 
advice of Dr. Lundbohm, are aiding the Lapps to continue 
their own nomadic ways. The Government has come to 
realise the economic value of the reindeer, both for fur and 
flesh and as a means of keeping the Lapps in health and 
contentment. Somewhat the same sensible attitude has 
been shown by the American Government toward the Eskimos 
of Alaska, where reindeer have recently been imported with 
gratifying results. 

The first volume of Dr. Lundbohm's series, The Life of the 
Lapps, was written by Johan Turi, the only and original 

Lappish author. Turi was renowned as a 
^Turf 1 wolf-slayer before he became a writer. For 

years he meditated on this subject, but in 
the restlessness of his wandering life he had denied himself 
the repose of mind and body. At length, the needed psycho- 
logical stimulus was supplied by a Danish woman, Emilie 
Demant, herself a devoted student of the Lapps. In an 
abandoned miner's lodge by Lake Tornetrask, she cooked 
and shared the author's meals, and gently induced him to 
write on week after week, until he had expressed what had 
been treasured up all these years in his mind. Then she 
took the scraps of manuscript with her south to Copenhagen, 
translated them into Danish, and published both the 
Lappish original and her Danish translation in the same 
volume. 

" Presumably it was half a century ago," says Emilie 
Demant, in her Danish introduction to this book, " that Turi 
was first swaddled in the skin of a reindeer calf ; himself he 
does not know how many summers' suns nor how many 
winters' snowstorms have bitten and burned his face and set 
their marks on his soul. Johan Turi is a mountain Lapp ; 
he has lived all his life as a nomad and travelled with the 



306 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



reindeer in the wilderness ; but for him the reindeer was 
not the only consideration, as for most other Lapps. Turi 
has in him primaeval hunter-blood. From the time he was 
a small urchin, the life and ways of wild animals have in- 
terested him. A few years ago he gave up herding animals 
and abandoned himself to his passion for fighting the reindeer's 
worst enemy, the wolf/' 

Turi says he has written the book to make clear to the 
Swedes, representing the great world, the point of view of his 
people, which the Lapps have never been 
Book a ^ e *° ex P ress by word or speech. The 
moment, says Turi in his work, that a Lapp 
finds himself shut within four walls, he loses self-possession. 
His mind refuses to act unless the wind is blowing about his 
head. But give him the mountains and his thoughts become 
clear ; if there were an assembly place upon some high 
mountain, where the Lapp could meet the Swede face to face, 
the Lapp could, perhaps, give a coherent account of himself. 

The book is full of pathetic passages prophetic of the 
passing of the Lapps. Turi's friend, Dr. Lundbohm, however, 
is more optimistic than Turi about their future. He feels 
that these mysterious dwarfs, who have for several centuries 
been in contact with the Aryan races and persisted in their 
own manner of life, will continue to preserve their integrity ; 
the Lapp is not a " mixer." 

To the Lapps far and wide, Dr. Lundbohm is a " Little 
Father," and the mention of his name evokes more than the 
usual Lappish smile. A Stockholmer, visiting an aged Lapp 
in his wigwam, or kdta, stated that he brought greetings 
from Disponent Lundbohm. The Lapp enthusiastically 
exclaimed : " Lundbohm ! Lundbohm ! My papa ! My 
papa ! " 

The gentleman from Stockholm wondered how Dr. 
Lundbohm could be the " papa " of the aged Lapp. The 
Lapp, however, cleared the mystery by adding : " Father 
of the Lapps ! Father of the Lapps ! " 



Electrifying the Railroads 307 



Dr. Lundbohm's residence at Kiruna, the official dwelling 
of the Disponent, in its exterior resembling a collection of 

barracks, is, within, a veritable museum of 
T Hea^uarfers. S La PP ish ethnology, and contains a rare 

collection of painting and sculpture, for the 
most part by Swedish artists who have visited Kiruna and 
recorded their impressions of Lapland. In Dr. Lundbohm's 
study is a painting of Mount Kirunavara, by Prince Eugen ; 
of a Lapp worshipping an idol, executed by another artist ; 
the small stone original of the idol reposes on the table among 
other Lappish antiquities. The fireplace, designed by 
Eriksson, weirdly represents Lapps driving their dogs, which 
seem, in the glow of the hearth, to be charging out of the 
flames. 

In this room, of a summer evening, one may chance to 
meet the Lappish author Turi himself, come from his fishing 
on the remote shores of Lake Tornetrask, unannounced, to 
call on the Disponent. The famous wolf-slayer does not 
come to dinner in evening clothes — his yellow and red raiment 
give a distinction and artistic touch to the otherwise conven- 
tional dinner guests. His features are characteristic of the 
Lapp — thin, tapering nose, narrow, pointed chin and scant 
beard. He has that mysterious smile, half politeness, half 
the repose of conscious superiority to the mad ways of our 
world. Every Lapp has the look of a wizard, but Mr. Turi 
is a seer, even among his own people. 

The Finns, also, are not denied their share of attention 
from Dr. Lundbohm. Many of them are employed in the 
mines. Though their language resembles the 
Finns Lappish, both being members of the Finno- 
Ugrian group of tongues, the Finns belong 
to a different order of civilisation and live in permanent 
houses. Dr. Lundbohm makes occasional visits to the old 
Finnish culture centre at Jukkasjarvi, a few miles from 
Kiruna, to chat with the Finns on household subjects, and to 
buy dried reindeer flesh and woven rugs. On stated festival 



308 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



days each year, it is at Jukkasjarvi that the Lapps of the 

province assemble for marketing and divine worship. 

The new House of God at Kiruna marks the transition of 

the old Lapland into the new. Its fresh red shingles rise 

like a pillar of flame over the growing city, 

The Church a hun d re d miles above the Polar Circle. Its 
at Kiruna. ......... 

noble outlines inspire reverence for art and 

for religion in the hearts of the Finnish miners toiling on the 
slopes of the great iron mountain across the lake ; they 
awaken memories of home in the minds of the Swedish guards 
on the electric trains that hasten north to the sea ; while its 
belfry, visible far out over the desolate tableland, serves as 
a beacon to the homeless Lapps following their herds of 
reindeer, carefully avoiding the mining town in their migra- 
tions by swinging past in a great circle. In its design, this 
curious church follows the plan of a Lappish kata, or wigwam, 
and the Lapps, although they have no architecture, recognise 
in its shape and sculptures an incarnation of their structural 
traditions. On the great bell is this dedication by Albert 
Engstrom — 

Rise my clang to the sun, to the northern lights my tiding, 
Waken the dreaming fells, the moors in slumber deep ; 

Bless the labouring fields, their fruitfulness abiding, 
Consecrate at last to the place of eternal sleep. 

Happily, in Sweden, industrial expansion requires the aid 
of religion, art, and social betterment ! To one who loves 
sharp contrasts, Lapland has a never-failing 
Contrasts* a PP ea l- I n the background are the Lapps 
with their reindeer, the persistent barbarians, 
the slow-minded prophets of the mountains ; in the fore- 
ground the hustling Swedish engineers, with their machines 
and constructions, harnessing to the chariot of economic 
progress the unfettered fastnesses of the North. But sharpest 
of all contrasts is the artistic repose of Disponent Lundbohm's 
study, and the view which he sees from his window of the 
great iron mountain across the lake In this soft-rugged 



Electrifying the Railroads 309 



study he hears three times a day the roar of the blasting on 
Kirunavara, and all day long the thunder of the electric ore 
trains coming and departing, twelve long trains a day, each 
bearing its burden of 1,000 tons of iron far into the north, 
past the shelter for tourists in the mountains at Abisko, past 
Lapp encampments on the shores of Lake Tornetrask, across 
the Border through snow-sheds and dark tunnels that pierce 
the mountain wall of Norway, out to the ice-free port of 
Narvik, the northernmost railway terminal of the world, 
where a fleet of fifteen steamers lies waiting to carry the 
wealth of Sweden's frontier to southern markets across the 
sea. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 



THE FOREST PRIMAEVAL 

The " Lapland Express " that carries the traveller north 
from Stockholm to the iron mountains of the Arctic traverses 
for twenty-four hours a region of spruce and 

Rivers an( ^ crosses 011 high trestled bridges river 

after river, coursing east and south toward 
the waters of the Baltic. These foaming streams are often 
almost choked with the logs that leap and plunge, hurled 
headlong by the current. The logs have come, some of them, 
from mountain slopes 250 miles back in the interior, where 
the song of the lumberman's saw has disturbed the solitude 
of centuries. So primaeval are these Swedish forests that 
they might have inspired the familiar lines of Evangeline — 

This is the forest primaeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, 
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, 
Stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic, 
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. 

Indeed, an American scholar has offered striking evidence 
that the poet Longfellow, in writing his description of Arcadia, 
actually made use of written accounts of Swedish scenery. 

The sawing of the timber, up in the mountains, is begun in 
the months of October and November. By sledge, drawn 
by oxen or, in the far north, by reindeer, 

R °1u>gs *°£ s are hauled to the nearest waterway. 

They have been carefully marked. When 
the ice breaks up in the spring, they begin their seaward 
journey. In old times, it often took three years for a log to 
find its way over waterfalls and past obstructions down to 
the saw-mill on the coast. Now, however, the logs reach the 
mouths of the streams the summer after they are cut, so 
zealously are the river ways tended by river drivers, who 

310 



The Forest Primaeval 311 



loosen the logs when they become congested on rocks or 
sand bars — often a hazardous task — and speed them on their 
way. To avoid waterfalls, long narrow shoots, or flumes, are 
constructed of woodwork, or blasted out of the rock, down 
which the logs may slide without injury, to points below the 
rapids. At the river mouths they are collected into great 
sorting booms, whence each log, identified by its mark, is 
drawn to the saw-mill or pulp factory to which it is destined. 
So carefully is the whole system worked out that, on some 
rivers, less than 1 per cent, of the logs are lost in floating. 

The tourist is well repaid who, in summer, goes up one of 
these rivers by steamboat, when the passage is tolerably 

free from logs. The winding course of the 
T1 River dal Indal river, with its steep, wooded banks, 

is especially beautiful. Logs hammer almost 
incessantly against the boat's bow. Stopping here and there 
along the bank, the boat is boarded by the lumbermen, with 
huge sheath knives at their belts and long hooked poles in 
their hands. The boat passes, at intervals, wooden flumes 
descending from the hills, down which logs shoot into the 
current. 

The forests have been the source of fabulous fortunes. It 
was not until the '60's and '70' s that their value was fully 
realised. Active speculation in lumber ensued. 

Fortune ^* ^^ at ** me man y farmers in the north, 
owners of immense tracts of spruce which 
their ancestors had thought of little profit, suddenly found 
themselves forest kings, noblemen by inherited domain, 
richer than any titled holders of mediaeval castles. More 
often than the owner, however, the shrewd speculator reaped 
the gain. Properties changed hands rapidly with the advance 
of values. There is on record a forest farm in Norrland, that 
could have been bought in the early years of the last century 
for a mere pittance. In 1864 the owner sold his woods to 
three speculators for 40,000 kronor. In 1866 they disposed 
of the property to a single buyer for 70,000 kronor. In 1872 
a i— (2384) 



312 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



he, in turn, sold it for 105,000 kronor, and the very same year 
the forest passed into the hands of a company for the tidy sum 
of 300,000 kronor. Two years later, the company had an 
inventory taken of the large trees on the property and found 
that these alone represented a standing value of 2,500,000 
kronor. And this is said to be one example among thousands 
of fortunes made by the sale of lumber lands. 

In 1908, the total value of the forests of Sweden was 
estimated as follows : Woods owned by the State, 230,439,000 
kronor ; by the municipalities and other 

S the n Natirn s ng P ublic ownershi P> 79,104,000; privately 
aions * owned, 1,247,651,000 kronor. The entire 
surface of the country amounts to 101,000,000 acres, of 
which 53,000,000 acres, or more than half, were, in 1914, 
covered by forests. Of all countries in Europe, only 
Finland has a greater proportion of woods. To give some 
idea of the extent of the forests, it can be calculated that for 
every inhabitant of western Europe there is only nine-tenths 
of an acre covered by trees ; in Sweden, for every human 
being there are at least ten acres. As an exporter of lumber 
and its products, Sweden ranks second among the world's 
nations. In 1911 the United States exported wood to a 
value equivalent to 344,115,000 kronor, as against the 
274,138,000 kronor of Sweden's foreign sales. This figure 
constituted 41-31 per cent, of the total exports of the nation. 

Surely no other nation, with the possible exception of 
Germany, is more solicitous of her forests. This was not 
always the case. At one time, the public 

Conservation, domain, as well as private forests, was given 
over indiscriminately to deforestation. The 
" Lapland Express " to-day passes through' many districts 
that are foul and sour from wasteful lumbering. About 
1860 the national Government began to realise the importance 
of forests to the nation, and to acquire additional domains, 
increasing the area of the State forests tenfold from 1870 to 
1900. 



The Forest Primaeval 



313 



Public sentiment demanded the passage and enforcement of 
laws to curb reckless spoliation. Gradually enactments were 

passed to restrict the cutting down of trees 
Legislation. in various districts. In Norrland, where 

grow the most extensive forests, an owner is 
allowed to cut down of his own trees only such trunks as 
measure at least 8| inches in diameter, not including the 
bark, at 15-6 feet from the base. Forest legislation was 
consummated in 1903 by a law, the first paragraph of which 
decrees that — 

" In forests owned by private persons, lumbering must 
not be carried on, nor, subsequent to the lumbering, the 
ground be treated in such a way that the re-growth of 
wood is endangered/ ' 

Local boards of forest supervisors are appointed to enforce 
the law. If an owner cuts down more of his trees than is 
lawful, he is obliged to pay their value into the treasury of 
his commune, and to reforest the desolated area at his own 
expense. 

The public domain is carefully studied and timbered under 
the administration of a Forest Service. The staff consists of 
10 chief foresters and 90 regular foresters, 
T Servke eSt nn & er whom, in turn, are 382 rangers and 
about 150 auxiliary officials. All of these 
men are obliged to undergo a rigorous training in forest 
schools, which is completed at the Royal Institute of Forestry, 
in Stockholm. 

Four great industries in Sweden are dependent on lumber : 
the saw-mills, which exported, in 1911, boards to the value 
of 164,000,000 kronor; the wood pulp 
Industries. factories > with exports of 84,307,000 kronor ; 

the paper mills, with a production estimated 
at 57,069,000 kronor, chiefly for home consumption ; and the 
manufacture of matches, yielding exports of 14,985,000 
kronor. 



314 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



The largest centre for the export of boards and paper pulp 
is the port of Sundsvall and the region surrounding. Into 

the waters about Sundsvall two mighty rivers 
Sundsvall. empty their logs, the Indal and the Ljungan. 

The network of headlands and islands, bays 
and straits, at the mouths of these rivers, is a vast web of 
interlocking logs, massed here and there in booms, ready to 
be taken to the saw-mills and wood-pulp factories which 
appear to rise on every point and promontory. So large are 
the mills that each of them, from a distance, appears to be a 
village. Now and again, fire sweeps over one of them and 
leaves a black acreage of charred remains at the water's edge. 

Ships flying flags of many nations lie at anchor off the 
saw-mills and pulp factories or in the harbour of Sundsvall. 

They wait, some of them, to carry cargoes of 
^radf n wood pulp to Mexico, others to take deals to 

the Cape, flooring to Australia, planks to 
Great Britain, and rafters to Egypt for Arabian huts. There 
is a direct steamship line between Sundsvall and Buenos 
Ayres. The shipping docks of one company are a mile in 
length. Sundsvall ranks first among the world's ports in the 
export of wood. In 1912 her total output of lumber was 
220,935,127 cubic feet, and of wood pulp 847,529 tons. The 
banks of this little city, with a population of 10,000, in the 
same latitude as that of southern Greenland, are rich in 
currency. It is said that if a foreign Power were ever to 
seize Sundsvall she could demand a tribute of 2,000,000 
pounds sterling. 

Smaller logs, especially the white pine, are conveyed, not 
to the saw-mills, but to the wood pulp factories, to be ground 

up into pulp to be used in foreign countries, 

chiefly for the manufacture of paper. There 

are three distinct methods of making wood 
pulp. One is mechanical, by which the wood is ground up 
and boiled. The other two methods are chemical processes. 
By one of these, called the sulphate method, the wood fibre 



The Forest Primaeval 



315 



is dissolved with the aid of sulphates of calcium. By the 
other, known as the sulphite method, reduction is effected 
with bi-sulphite of magnesium. The pulp may be delivered 
wet or dry. The dry sulphite pulp is the one most extensively 
manufactured. 

By the sulphite method of making paper pulp, the bark is 
shaved from the logs ; they are then split and chipped by 
machinery into small bits. The wood mass 

Th prfcisi! ite is then conveved to the to P floor of the 
factory, whence it descends through various 

processes. It is mixed with water and emptied into boilers 

steaming with sulphurous fumes, where it is boiled, and its 

impurities digested, for eighteen hours. Later, it is passed 

down into great vats, where the chemicals are washed out, 

and spread out with a consistency like thin porridge into 

vast " pans." In this state it is passed over screens and 

between coolers, and pressed and dried until it attains the 

stiffness of cardboard. Finally, the dry pulp is rolled into 

bales, eight bales to a ton, and shipped to foreign ports. 

Great Britain is by far the largest purchaser of Swedish 

wood products. In 1911, 2,163,985 cubic meters of lumber 

were shipped to Great Britain and Ireland ; 
G T eat d to the German Empire 338,981, and to France 

789,030, out of a total export of 6,049,912 
cubic meters. The trade with England was menaced by the 
war in 1914. 

For centuries, the forest primaeval has added, for home 
consumption and foreign trade, materially to the national 
wealth. The lumber that has been cut 

^JS^Sm alread y affords but a SmaU indication of 
* what the forest floors are capable of nourishing. 

It must be remembered that most of the timbering has been 

carried on in forests still in their natural state, and that 

scientific cultivation of the woods has only recently been 

begun. Hope for Sweden in ages to come sleeps in the shadow 

of her deep forests, 



CHAPTER XXIX 



MIDSUMMER EVE 

One secret of the solidarity of modern Sweden is found in 
the national adherence, in spite of industrial revolutions and 
political innovations, to the character-forming 
°New nd traditions of a thousand years. We have 
seen how handicrafts and peasant dress have 
been reclaimed ; how Zorn has dignified the peasant through 
his art ; how modern architecture has utilised mediaeval 
timber models and the solid structures of the Vasa kings. 
In the same spirit, the national dances are rehearsed to-day 
in Stockholm, with something of pagan enthusiasm, at the 
open-air museum of Skansen. 

Nowhere among Teutonic peoples at the present time can 
the ancient customs of our Odin-worshipping forefathers be 
more readily studied than in Sweden. Here 
Customs t ^ ie °^ festivals are observed with a curious 
mingling of Lutheran faith and heathen 
practice. Midsummer Eve, June 23rd, the evening before 
the Day of St. John the Baptist, is celebrated with sacrificial 
fires on the hill-tops, and gaily festooned May-poles rising 
from village greens, surrounded by motley throngs of 
dancers, old and young. All Sweden seems to be garlanded, 
even to dray horses hauling their loads in Stockholm, with fresh 
branches of birch, a Viking symbol for victory in battle, now 
significant of the long-delayed conquest of summer over winter. 

The spell of Midsummer Eve is felt strongest in Dalecarlia, 
the province that has most uninterruptedly preserved old- 
time customs, and especially at the village of 
Dalecarlia. Leksand, where earnest natives of neigh- 
bouring parishes meet for the occasion, as 
well as curious tourists from distant parts of Sweden, who 

316 



Midsummer Eve 



317 



come by rail and by water across tranquil Lake Siljan, " the 
eye of Dalecarlia." The festivities described below were 
still being enacted in 1909. 

Crossing Lake Siljan, the first glimpse of Lekland is the 
church, with its quaint Russian tower built by Swedish 
soldiers who were prisoners in Russia during 
Costumes ^ e re *£ n °f Carl XII. The church is situated 
on a bluff apart from the village. The 
village itself slopes abruptly down to the steamboat wharf, 
which is thronged with holiday makers, purple and red and 
green and blue with festive costumes. Apparently, all 
Dalecarlia has assembled to meet its midsummer guests. 

The drive to the inn leads past the village green, with the 
May-pole lying prone like a great white mast waiting to be 
raised ; and up the long lane bordered with birches, where 
one can study, in passing, the gaily attired peasants. A 
gorgeous spectacle they present, the men in blue knee- 
breeches with red tassels, the women from each parish arrayed 
in their own peculiar fashion — the cockade of Rattvik, the 
striped apron of Leksand, the red ribbon braided in the hair 
of the Mora girl. Perhaps one will see a belle from Floda 
whose apparel resembles a flower garden : her cap, the bag 
suspended by her side, even her shoes, are all embroidered 
with roses. 

The connoisseur is able, no doubt, to recognise at once the 
more personal badges which distinguish maid from mother, 
and wife from widow. The effect is unlike anything else in 
Europe — more varied than the gala costumes of Brittany, 
more decorative than the dress of the Bavarian peasants — 
almost Asiatic in its richness. 

The supper that awaits the visitor at the inn is the usual 
Swedish Smorgasbord, where the guest helps himself at a 
well-stocked table to cracker-bread, goat's 

Smorgasbord, cheese and honey, to mountain trout and 
reindeer-steak. One will find sitting at the 
tables Stockholm visitors and landed gentry, who have 



318 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



donned peasant costume for this most democratic of 
holidays. 

The evening's celebration begins with a concert in the 
village church, a Christian prelude to the pagan rites that are 
to follow through the night. Folk songs and 

A prelude an hymns are sun S by a trained choir of Lek- 
sanders. There is also an organ and violin 
recital ; for good music is appreciated in Dalecarlia. Several 
thousand people tax the capacity of the church, in a spirit 
of religious exaltation. 

After the concert, the entire population streams down the 
road to the village green, where the customary ceremony is 
to be performed half an hour before midnight, 

R £y"f £ e the raising of the May-pole. The Ma] Stdng, 
as it is called in Swedish, was originally 
symbolic of the renewed fertility of mother-earth. On 
account of the lateness of the Northern summer, the festivities 
that formerly took place in England on May Day are deferred 
in Sweden until June 23rd. 

It is an expectant multitude which throngs the public 
meeting-place, laughing and chatting in naturally low, 
musical voices. Around the huge mast a score of Leksand 
men are busy putting the finishing touches to the decorations, 
festooning the pole with floral wreaths, regarding it reverently, 
as a savage does a symbol of deity. Leksand, though far 
north, is not within the Arctic Circle and has no actual 
midnight sun. The sun has already set in a purple haze 
over the lake of Siljan before the May-pole begins to rise, 
slow and quivering, until at last it settles into the pocket 
prepared for it, and stands erect like a ship's mast, while 
hoops twined with laurel suspended by ribbons swing gaily 
in the breeze ; and from the top flutters a silken pennant of 
the yellow and blue of Sweden. 

A subdued roar of applause ends the suspense with which 
the raising has been awaited ; for the sturdy descendants of 
the Vikings are a quiet people, and still waters run deep. 



Midsummer Eve 



319 



Every one seizes the hands of his neighbours, and they dance 
in one rhythmic mass, around the May-pole, chanting an 

appropriate refrain. From the village green 
Dance ttley descend, st *M dancing, down the hillside 

to the open stretches of grass and the 
boat-landing by the lake. 

The stranger, they think, should try a Dal-polska, if he is 
agile enough to keep up with the lightning speed of the 
dance on the slippery quay. A collision with one of the 
whirling couples is likely to send him lunging into the lake. 
If so inclined, let him make his bow to a native Leksand 
lassie, or to one of the buxom models from Mora, or to a 
trim maid of Rattvik, with her striped apron, multicoloured 
like a Roman scarf, or to the rose-embroidered lady from 
distant Floda. 

If, not, he may stand apart, watching the whirling, laughing 
merry-makers. He may wish to pinch himself to make sure 
that he is not taking part with Oberon and 
Midnight. his, fairies in a " Midsummer's Night's 
Dream/' dancing here out of doors in a 
violet dawn a few minutes after midnight, a little under the 
Arctic Circle, among people dressed in Asiatic splendour ! 
The twilight has been met half-way by the dawn ; the two 
seem to be wrestling with each other, while Lake Siljan 
becomes a furnace of blood-red and purple. 

On the grass near the wharf the dancing of the intricate 
ring measures takes place, the steps of which have been 
transmitted for centuries, originating possibly 
Th Step mg * n re ^gi° us festivals of heathen days. The 
dancers accompany their movements by song. 
A hundred young men, more or fewer, form a wide ring. In 
the centre of this circle the girls dance hand in hand, in a 
smaller ring, with eyes turned downwards, singing the 
words— 

The maid goes in a ring 
Treading with even step. 



320 Scandinavia of the Scandinavians 



Then their lithe figures straighten, and each dancer casts a 
furtive glance around the encircling ring of men, singing — 

To find herself a mate 
Who is so lovely. 

Then with an unintelligible refrain that seems like a bird's 
love-call — 

Sing hoppsan sa 
Follerallala ! 

the ring of girls breaks up, and each maid springs, with 
blushing cheeks and flashing eyes, across the open grass to 
the man in the circle whom she has chosen for her " mate," 
and seizes his hand ; and now each pair, man and maid, 
dance together, singing their " Follerallala/ ' until the men 
swing back again into their places, and the girls repeat their 
love call. 

Toward 2 o'clock, however, the dancers are interrupted 
by the shout : "To the mountain, to welcome the sunrise/ ' 
Among the giant boulders of a neighbouring 

Sun-worship hei S ht > the y re-assemble to watch the early 
sun break over the distant forest. Bonfires 
gleam from surrounding heights, pagan beacons that serve 
as miniature suns, once believed to charm the summer crop. 
From booths on the hill-top a light breakfast of coffee and 
bread is partaken of, until the scene seems reminiscent of 
the Sermon on the Mount and the miracle of the loaves and 
fishes. 

Sun worship over, there is dancing, and again dancing, in 
a bana, a typical open-air pavilion in a grove of sweet-smelling 
birch and spruce. 

At half-past nine in the morning, however, the church bells 
of Leksand ring out, summoning all once more from heathen 
observance to Christian worship. Midsummer 
Service ' S * S ' likewise, a holiday ; in the Lutheran 

kalendar it is St. John the Baptist's Day. 
On the way to church, the stranger may be so fortunate 
as to see a long " church-boat/' a relic from the past, propelled 



Midsummer Eve 



321 



by twenty oars. The occupants of the boat appear to be 
more gaily clad than is usual, even in Dalecarlia ; it is a bridal 

party, and among the women sits the bride 
A Boat™* 1 wearing a crown. Even in Sweden, June is 

a month of weddings, and what occasion 
more appropriate than midsummer ? In looking over the 
tired but contented congregation during this midsummer 
service, one fancies that here are other happy couples who, 
another year, will be joined at the altar. Have not many 
glad young Dalecarlian hearts yielded to the spell of Mid- 
summer Eve ? To the native Dalecarlian girl and to her 
rustic lover the night has been more than a gay show ; the 
May-pole, the ring song, the beacon fires, have been significant 
realities. 

Not so to the stranger from London, or the midsummer 
guest from Stockholm, who has come to witness the Dale- 
carlian spectacle. The city girl must throw 

pTesen^ o£f the S P e11 of the ni & ht to g ether with her 
peasant costume, and don again the conven- 
tional garb dictated by Paris. To her, as to the English 
visitor, the adventure of Midsummer Eve seems now an 
unreality, a fairy dream. And yet not altogether unreal. 
For, once experienced, one can never forget that living 
glimpse of ages gone, nor the thousand whirling figures of 
youth, in multicoloured dress, seen through the violet haze 
of a midnight dawn, singing folk songs of wooing, as old and 
as young again as the pagan past. 



INDEX 



Aalborg, Industries at, 61-62 
Aanrud, Hans, author, 140 
Aasen, Ivar, coined the Lands- 

maal, 145-46 
Abrahamson, August, founded 

Sloyd Teachers' Seminary, 267 
Academies and endowments, 

Swedish, 279 
Accident Insurance in Denmark, 

57 

Adlersparre, Baroness Sophie, 

236 ; founded " Friends of 

Handiwork," 264 
Administration, Danish, 28-29 ; 

Norwegian, 124 ; Swedish, 216 
Aga Lamp, The, of Gustav Dalen, 

291-292 
Agricultural Schools, 77-78 
Agriculture in Denmark, 40 ; in 

Norway, 180-83 ; in Sweden, 

287 

Althing, The, the parliament of 
Iceland, 30, 31 

American-Scandinavian Founda- 
tion, Fellows of, 82 

Amundsen, Roald, Expedition to 
South Pole, 201 ; made North- 
west passage, 201, 202 

Ancher, Anna, Danish artist, 106 

, Michael, Danish artist, 106- 

107 

Andersen, Hans Christian, Tales 
of, 92 

, H. N., Danish merchant, 

66, 71 

Architecture in Denmark, 116- 
118; in Norway, 162-164; in 
Sweden, 258-261 

Arbitration Court in Denmark, 
53, 54 

Army, The Danish, 20 ; the 
Swedish, 212, 213 



Arrhenius, Svente, Nobel Prize- 
man, 288 

Art, Danish, 102-116; Nor- 
wegian, 151-162 ; Swedish, 241- 
257 

Artists' Union, The Swedish, 244 

Arts and Crafts Societies, Swedish, 
264, 265 

Athletics in Sweden, 239, 268, 
269, 271, 272 

Authors, Danish, 92-97 ; Nor- 
wegian, 131-142 ; Swedish, 221- 
231 ; women, 239 

Aviation, 271 

Ball-bearings, Wingquist, 291 

Ballads, Danish, 91 

Ballet, Royal Danish, 118, 119 

Bang, Hermann, Style and works 
of, 95, 96 

Banks, Danish, 70, 71 ; Nor- 
wegian, 125 

Bergen, 125 ; centre of fishing 
industry, 194-196 

Bergh, Richard, portraitist, 255 

Bernadotte Dynasty, The, 213- 
214 

Bessemer process, The, 289, 296 
Bindesboll, Thorvald, Danish 

decorator, 113 
Brigitta, Saint, 234, 284 
Birkeland and Eyde, Nitrogen 

process of, 186, 187 
Birth rate, Norwegian, 129 
Bjornson, B., works and influence 

of, 135-137, 175 ; poem on 

Wanderlust, 184 ; on industrial 

future of Norway, 185 
Boat davit, The Welin, 291 
Boberg, Anna, artist, 251, 252 
, Ferdinand, architect, 259, 

260 



323 



324 Index 



Boden, Key to Northern Scandi- 
navia, 300 

Book-making, Artistic, in Den- 
mark, 114 

Brandes, Edward, playwright, 98 

, Georg, Theories and influ- 
ence of, 93-95 ; on Bjdrnson, 
136 

Bremer, Fredrika, Influence of, 

235, 236 
Byrde, Director, on Norwegian 

shipping, 205, 206 
Bull, Ole, violinist, 165 
Butter industry, The Danish, 38-40 

Cabinet, The Danish, 25-27 
Cable and Wire Works, Northern, 
65 

Carl XII, Campaign of, 14 
Carlsberg Breweries, 67, 68 ; 

fund, 67, 82 ; Glyptothek, 104 
Cathedrals in Denmark, 116, 117 
Cement industry, The, in Den- 
mark, 62, 63 
Character, Swedes poor students 
of, 283 

Characteristics of the Northmen, 

5-7, 16, 83, 283, 285 
Cheese industry, The Danish, 42 
Child Welfare in Denmark, 58, 59 
Christian X, Democratic customs 

of, 22, 23 ; national policy of, 

24 ~ 

Christmas in Denmark, 85-88 
Christiania, Exhibition at, 15 ; 

the capital, 124, 125 
Church, The. See Religion. 
" Church-boat," The, 320, 321 
Cities, Norwegian, 124, 125 
Cnut the Great, Sovereignty of, 

8, 12, 16 
Coastline of Denmark, 64 ; of 

Norway, 204 
Cod fisheries, 196, 197 
Collin, Christen, critic, 141, 142 
Colony Gardens in Denmark, 45, 

46 

Concession Acts for water power, 
89 

Conciliator, The Danish State, 54 



Conservation of forests in Sweden, 

312, 313 
Constitution, Danish, 25, 26 ; 

Swedish, 214, 215 
Co-operation in Denmark, 37-42 ; 

not successful in industry, 68, 69 
Copenhagen, Defences of, 19, 20 ; 

government of, 28, 29 ; life in, 

46-50 ; factories in, 67 ; art 

collections, 104, 105 ; New 

Town Hall, 117, 118 
County Government in Denmark, 

28 ; in Norway, 124 
Court, The Danish, 24, 25 ; the 

Swedish, 214 
Courts, Danish, 29 
Cyanamide, Manufacture of, 190 

Dahl, Christian, landscape pain- 
ter, 152 

Dalecarlia, Festival of Midsum- 
mer Eve in, 316-321 

Dalen, Gustaf, Nobel Prizeman, 
291, 292 

Dalgas, Enrico, Reclamation work 
of, 32-36 

Danes in England and Normandy, 
8 ; in the West Indies, 9 ; in 
the United States, 9, 10 ; 
born psychologists, 283 

Danish American Park, The, 37 

Heath Society, The, 34-37 

W T est Indies, 9 ; govern- 
ment of, 30 

Dannebrog, Tradition of the, 12 

Dannevirke, The, erected by 
Danes, 4 ; Prussians broke 
through the, 12 

De Laval, G., invented cream 
separator, 290 

Death rate, Norwegian, 129 ; 
Swedish, 274 

Debt, National, of Denmark, 28 ; 
of Norway, 126 ; of Sweden, 
220 

Defence Commission, Danish, 19 
Defences, National, Danish, 19, 

20 ; Swedish, 209, 210, 212, 213 
Demant, Emile, assisted Turi, 

305, 306 



Index 325 



Denmark, History, 3, 12, 13 

, Industrial, 63-65 

" Denmark Expedition " to 

Greenland, 202, 203 
Diesel oil engine, 66 
Dietetics, Danish, 84 
Diriks, Edvard, impressionist, 157 
Drachmann, Holger, Danish poet, 

95 ; on Strindberg, 224 
Dress, in Norway, 183 ; native, in 

Sweden, 317 

Eckersberg, Danish artist, 102, 
103 

Economic progress in Sweden, 

219, 220 
Edda and Saga in Northern 

literature, 89, 90 
Edstrom, David, sculptor, 256 
Education, Danish system of, 

73-82; Swedish, 280, 281 

, Higher, for women, 235, 236 

Eldh, Karl, sculptor, 256 
Elections, in Sweden, 214, 215 
Electrical works in Norway, 190 
Electro-chemical industries, 186- 

188, 190 

Employers ' Association, Danish 
53, 54 

Liability in Denmark, 57, 

58 

Employment Bureaux, Danish, 57 
Engineers, Work of Danish, 64 
Eng strom, Albert, realist, 227 ; 

caricaturist, 255 
Ericsson, John, inventor of screw 

propeller, 289 
Eriksson, Christian, sculptor and 

decorator, 256, 257 
Eskimos, Blonde, 203 
Eugen, Prince, landscape artist, 
250 ; promoted Home Sloyd 
Union, 264, 265 
Exhibitions, Industrial, 15 
Explorers, 141, 201-203, 286 
Explosives, Nobel's, 289, 290 
Exports, Danish, 40, 41 ; Nor- 
wegian, 198, 204, 205 ; Swed- 
ish, of boards and wood-pulp, 
314, 315 



Eyde, Dr. Samuel, developed 
Norwegian industry, 185-189 ; 
on industrial future of Norway, 
192, 193 

Earoe Islands, Danish colony, 
30 

Farmsteads in Norway, 181-183 

Feminism in Scandinavia, 233-240 

Finances, Danish, 27, 28 ; Nor- 
wegian, 126-128 ; Swedish, 220 

Finland relinquished to Russia, 
14 ; woman suffrage in, 234 

Finns, The, 307, 308 

Finse, Summer ski-ing, at, 172 

Fishing industry, Norwegian, 195- 
198 ; value of exports, 198 

Fjaested, Gustav, snow artist, 
242, 250, 251 

Fjords, The, 183, 184 

Folk-dress, Revival of, in Sweden, 
266 

Folk High School, The, 74-77 
tale, The, in Northern litera- 
ture, 90 

Folketing, Constitution of the, 25, 
26, 27 

Forests in Norway, 179, 180 ; in 

Sweden, 310-315 
Forstander, The, 75, 76 
Foss, Alexander, Danish captain 

of industry, 63, 64 
Foyn, Svend, method of catching 

whales, 199 
Franchise in Denmark, 25, 26 
Frederik VIII, Death of, 21, 22 
Fredrika Bremer League, The, 

236-238 

Fyn, Island of, Social customs on 
the, 85 

Gade, John A., brought Scandi- 
navian paintings to America, 
151 ; architect, 164 
Galdhopig, The, 175, 176 
Game, Norwegian, 178, 179 
Garborg, Arne, author, 139, 146 

, Hulda, author, 140 

Geijerstam, Gustaf av, literary 
realist, 226 



326 



Index 



Gellivare, mining centre, 301 
Genre painters, Danish, 103, 104 
Gjende, John, discovered Lake 

Gjende, 177, 178 
Gliicksborg Dynasty founded, 20 
Goransson, G. F., invented method 

of reducing steel, 289 
Gosta Berlings Saga (Selma 

Lagerlof), 229, 230 
Gothenburg System, 217, 218 
Government administration in 

Norway, 124 
Grangesberg Traffic Company, 303 
Granholm, Engineer of Porjus 

power station, 301, 302 
Great Northern Telegraph Com- 
pany, 70 
Greenland, Danish colony, 30 
Grieg, Edvard, music of, 165, 166 
Grundtvig, Bishop Nicolaj, foun- 
der of Folk High School, 74, 75, 
77 

Gude, Hans, romantic painter, 
152 

Gullstrand, Alvar, Nobel prize- 
man, 286 

Gustaf Adolf, Victories of, 13 

Vasa, Reign of, 13, 16 ; 

joined Church and Crown in 
Sweden, 217 ; statue of, at 
Mora, 246, 247 

V, Reply of, to the yeomen, 

211 ; sustained by popular 
vote, 212 

Gymnastics, Swedish, 273 

Haakon VII, 21 ; public and 
private life, 122, 123 ; on ski, 
169, 170 

— — the Old, Reign of, 11 ; trade 
with England under, 194, 203, 
204 

Hallstrom, Gunnar, decorative 

artist, 252 
, Per, short story writer, 228, 

229 

Hammershoi, Vilhelm, Danish 

artist, 111 
Hamsun, Knut, author, 139, 140 
Hansen, Frida, Tapestries of, 164 



Harald, the Fair-haired, estab- 
lished kingdom of Norway, 3 

Hazelius, Artur, established arts 
and crafts museums, 263, 264 

Hedberg, Tor, realist, 226, 227 

Hedin, Sven, " A Warning Word," 
210 ; explorations of, 286 

Heiberg, Gunnar, dramatist, 139 

Herring fisheries, 197 

Hesselbom, Otto, landscape pain- 
ter, 254 

Hoffding, Harald, philosopher, 
100 

Holberg, Ludvig, Life and works, 
91, 92 

Holmboe, Thorolf, landscape 
artist, 157 ; china decorator, 
164 

Holmenkollen Leap, The, 173, 174 
Home life in Denmark, 83-88 
Hospitality, Danish, 84-88 
Housemen in Denmark, 43 
Housing in Copenhagen, 49 • 
Hunting in Norway, 178, 179 ; in 
Sweden, 271 

Ibsen, Henrik, Influence of, 15 ; 

life of, 131, 132 ; works, 132-135 

, Sigurd, Works of, 141 

Iceland, 30, 31 
Icelandic manuscripts, 280 
Illustrators, Danish, 114 
Immigrants, Illiteracy among, 73, 

74 

Imports, Norwegian, 204, 205 
Impressionism in Denmark, 105 
Income tax, Norwegian, 127, 128 
Indal River, The, 311 
Industrial Art in Sweden, 266 
Insurance, Norwegian marine, 

207 ; Swedish pension, 219 
Inventions, Swedish, 288-293 
Iron Industry, The, in Sweden, 
294 ; ore deposits, 295 ; foun- 
dries, 296 

Jacobsen, Carl, brewer and 

patron, 67, 104 
— . — , J. C, brewer and patron, 

67. 68, 104 



Index 



327 



Jacobsen, J. P., Works of, 95 
Jansson, Eugen, painter, 252 
Jensen, Johannes V., novelist, 
96, 97 

Jewellery, Norwegian, 164 
Johannsen, Viggo, Danish pain- 
ter, 109 
Jonsson, Einar, sculptor, 116 
Josephson, Ernst, Swedish pain- 
ter, 253, 254 
Jotunheim, The, 175 

Kampmann, Hack, architect, 118 

Karsten, Ludwig, painter of 
interiors, 159 

Key, Ellen, Works of, 225, 226 ; 
influence of, 226, 238, 239 

Kielland, Alexander, author, 138 

King's Cabinet, The, 211 

Kiruna, Tepee-like church at, 
261, 308 ; mining and indus- 
trial centre of Lapland, 302, 
303 ; social reforms at, 304 

Kirunavara-Luossavara Company 
controls mining in Lapland, 
303 ; issues books on science, 
304 

Knudsen, Ivar, invented oil 

engine, 66 

, Knud, grammarian, 145 

Kreuger, Nils, painter of horses, 

252, 253 
Krohg, Christian, painter, 154, 

155 

Kr6yer, Peter S., Danish im- 
pressionist, 107, 108 

Labour, Foreign, in Denmark, 44 

Lagerlof, Selma, romanticist, 229 ; 
honours conferred on, 230 ; Dean 
of Scandinavian letters, 240 

Lake Gjende, 177, 178 

Land tenures, Parcelling of Dan- 
ish, 42, 43 

Landsmaal, based on country 
dialects, 143 ; origin and success 
of, 146-148; defects of, 149, 
150 ; a survival of romanticism, 
185 

Land sting, Constitution of the, 26 
22— (2*384) 



Language, Early, 3, 4 

agitation in Norway, 143- 

150 

Lapland, Mining industry in, 299, 
300, 302-304 ; a land of con- 
trasts, 308, 309 ; " Lapland 
Express," The, 300 

Lapps, The, 301 ; habits, 304 ; 
attitude of Government to- 
ward, 305 ; Johan Turi's books 
on, 305, 306 

Larsen, Karl, novelist, 96 

Larsson, Carl, painter of home 
life, 242, 248, 249 

Ledreborg Ministry, 19, 20 

Leksand, Festival of Midsummer 
Eve at, 316-321 

Letterstedt Fund, The, 279 

Levertin, Oscar, critic and essay- 
ist, 227 

Libraries in Sweden, 280 

Lie, Jonas, Norwegian author, 
137, 138 

Lifeboat, The Lundin, 291 

Liljefors, Bruno, painter of 
animals, 242, 249, 250 

Ling, Per Henrik, founder of 
gymnastic system, 273 

Linne, Karl von, botanist, 287 

Literature, Northern, 89, 90; 
Danish, 91-101 ; Norwegian, 
130-142 ; Swedish, 221-231, 
285 ; women in Swedish, 239 ; 
Nobel Prize for, 278, 279 

Living, Cost of, in Copenhagen, 
47, 48 

Locher, Carl, marine painter, 107 

Lofoten Islands, 197 

Lovland, Jorgen, champion of 
Landsmaal, 143, 144, 149 

Lumbering in Sweden, 310, 311 

Lund, Henrik, portrait painter, 
159 ; Director of Scandinavian 
Art Exhibition, 159, 160 

Lundbohm, Hjalmar, Manager of 
mining industries in Lapland, 
304 ; monographs on Lapps, 
304, 305 ; popularity of, 306 ; 
residence of, a museum, 307 ; 
interest of in Finns, 307 



328 



Index 



Lutheranism in Norway, 124 
Lutherans in Sweden, 217 

Magazines, Danish, 101 ; Nor- 
wegian, 142 ; Swedish, 232 

Malmo, Exhibition at, 15 

Manors Danish, 117 

Manufactures, Danish, 65 ; ad- 
vance of in Norway, 191 ; in 
Sweden, 294 

Margaret, Queen of Denmark and 
Sweden, 16 ; united the three 
kingdoms, 233, 234 

Marstrand, Vilhelm, Danish pain- 
ter, 103 

Massage, Swedish, 273, 274 

Match, The safety, 290 

Mathematicians, Swedish, 287, 288 

Maud, Queen of Norway, on ski, 
169, 170 

May-pole, Raising the, at Lek- 

sand, 318-320 
Medicine, Swedish experts in 

field of, 286 
Metal industries, Norwegian, 191 
Midsummer Eve in Dalecarlia, 

316-321 
Migrations, 7-11 

Military service in Denmark, 20 ; 
in Sweden, 212 

training on skis, 172, 173 

Milk supply, City, in Denmark, 44 
Milles, Carl, sculptor, 255, 256 
Mining in Sweden, 295 ; in Lap- 
land, 299, 300 ; 302 ; high 
finance and national ownership, 
303 

Ministerial crisis in Sweden, 211, 
212 

government in Denmark, 

26, 27 

Monopolies in Denmark, 63 
Montelius, Oscar, archaeologist, 
285 

Mora, The peasant girls of, 242, 
247 

Mountain climbing in Norway, 
175, 176 

Munch, Edvard, post-impression- 
ist, 157, 158 



Munch, P. A., suggested Lands- 
maal, 145 

Municipal government in Den- 
mark, 28, 29 

Munthe, Gerhard, Decorative art 
of, 156 

av Morgenstierne, Bredo 

von, Statistics of, on property, 
125, 126 

Museums, Danish, 104, 105 ; 

Swedish, 245, 279, 280 
Music, Danish, 118 ; Norwegian, 

165, 166 

Musicians, Modern Norwegian, 
166 ; Swedish, 257, 258 

Nansen, Fridtjof, explorer, 141, 
202 

" Nations," Student, 281 
Naturalism in Norwegian art, 

153 ; in Swedish literature, 227, 

228 ; in Swedish art, 243, 244 
Navy of Denmark, 20 ; of 

Sweden, 213 
Neutrality, Armed, 14, 15 
New Sweden, on the Delaware, 9, 

13 

Newspapers, Danish, 100, 101 ; 

Norwegian, 142 ; Swedish, 231 
Nielsen, Einar, Danish artist, 

111, 112 

Nisse, The, propitiated at Christ- 
mas, 87, 88 

Nitrogen obtained from air by 
Birkeland and Eyde, 186, 187 

Products and Carbide Com- 
pany, Operations of, 190 

Nobel, Alfred, inventor, 275, 289, 
290 

Foundation, The, 275-277 ; 

Prize-winners, 230, 277, 278, 

286, 288, 292 
Nobility, Danish, 24, 25 
Nordenskiold, Adolf, explorer, 

202, 286 
Nordstrom, Karl, Swedish artist, 

254 

Norlind, Ernst, etcher, 255 
" Norsk Hydro," Foreign capital 
invested in, 188, 189 



Index 



329 



North Magnetic Pole located, 202 

North-West passage made by 
Amundsen, 201, 202 

Northern Games, The, at Stock- 
holm, 269 

Museum, Stockholm, a trea- 
sure house of arts and crafts, 
259, 263 

Peoples, The, 2, 3 ; charac- 
teristics of, 5, 7, 16 

Norway, History, 3, 11, 121, 122 

Norwegian- American Line, The, 
207 

Norwegians in Scotland and Ire- 
land, 8 ; in America, 9, 10, 11 
Norwego-Danish. See Riksmaal 
Notodden saltpetre works, 187, 
188 

Nyrop, Martin, architect, 117, 118 

Officials, Danish administra- 
tive, 28 

Oil-burning ships, 66, 67 

Olav, Crown Prince, taught to 
run on skis, 170 

Old age pensions, Danish, 58 

Olympic contest at Stockholm, 
268 

Orders and decorations, 24 
Ostberg, Ragnar, architect, 260 

Pagan customs in Sweden, 316, 
318-320 

Painting, Danish, 102-113; Nor- 
wegian, 151-161 ; Swedish, 241- 
255 

Palaces, Danish, 117 
Parliament, The Danish, 25, 26 
Parties, Political, in Denmark, 

26, 27 ; in Norway, 123, 124 
Pasch, G. E., invented safety 

match, 290 
Patents, Swedish, Notable, 289- 

293 

Peace Monument, 15 
Pensions, Danish, 28 ; Swedish, 
219 

People, Characteristics of the, 
5-7 ; temperamental differences, 
16 



Peter the Great conquered 
Sweden, 13, 14 

Petersen, Eilif, artist, 156 

Pettersson, Axel, Wooden sta- 
tuettes by, 259 

Philanthropic Society for women, 
237 

Philanthropy, Danish, 60 

Philipsen, Theodor, Danish im- 
pressionist, 105 

Physiography of Norway, 175- 
184; of Sweden, 215 

Playwrights, Danish, 98 

Poets, Danish, 99 ; Norwegian, 
130, 140, 141 ; Swedish, 227, 
228 

Pontoppidan, Henrik, Danish 

realist, 96 
Poor, Care of, in Denmark, 59, 60 
Population of Norway, 125 ; of 

Sweden, 216 
Porcelain, Danish, 114, 115 ; 

Norwegian, 164 ; Swedish, 226 
Porjus, Power station at, 301, 302 
Post-impressionism in Norway, 

153 

Posting in Norway mountains, 180 
Poulsen, Niels, Founder of Ameri- 
can-Scandinavian Foundation, 
82 

Power stations, Electric, 297, 299- 
302 

Property values compared, 125, 
126 

Prydz, Alvilde, novelist, 138 

Railroads in Sweden, 298, 299 ; 

electrifying the, 299 
Realism in Danish literature, 92, 
93 ; in Norwegian, 130, 131 ; 
in Swedish, 221, 226 
Reclamation in Denmark, 32-37 
Recreation in Copenhagen, 49, 50 
Religion, Early, 5, 6 ; in Den- 
mark, 29, 30 ; in Norway, 124 ; 
in Sweden, 217 
Retzius, Anders, anthropologist, 
286 

Richelieu, Admiral, Danish- 
Siamese financier, 71, 72 



330 



Index 



Richert, J. G., hydraulic engineer, 
291 

Rigsdag, The Danish, 25, 26 
Riksmaal, the official language of 
Norway, 144 ; adhered to by 
professors and business men, 150 
Riksmaal Union, Work of the, 

147, 148 
Ring, L. A., Danish artist, 106 
Rivers, Swedish, Logs floated 

down, 310, 311 
Rjukan saltpetre works, 187, 188 
Romanticism in Norwegian litera- 
ture, 130 ; in Norwegian paint- 
ing, 152 ; in Swedish litera- 
ture, 221, 229 
Rosenberg Castle, 104, 105 
Royal Copenhagen porcelain, 114 
Royal Family, The Danish, 20-24 ; 
Norwegian, 122, 123 ; enjoy 
ski-ing, 169, 170 ; Swedish, 214 

• Gallery, Copenhagen, 104 

Russia a menace to Northern 

peoples, 14 
Rype, Norwegian game bird, 178, 
179 

Saeters on mountain slopes, 176, 
177 

Saltpetre, Norwegian, 187, 188 
Savings bank deposits in Norway, 

125 ; in Sweden, 219 
Saxo Grammaticus, Place of, in 

Danish literature, 91 
Scandinavia, Origin of word, 2 
Scandinavian paintings, American 

exhibition of, 151 
Union, 16 

Scholars, Danish, 99, 100 ; Nor- 
wegian, 141, 142 ; Swedish, 
284, 285 
School legislation in Norway, 147 

system, Danish, 78-82 ; 

Swedish, 281 
Schools, Society for decorating 

Swedish, 245 
Screw propeller, Ericsson's, 289 
Sculpture, Danish, 115, 116 ; 
Norwegian, 161, 162 ; Swedish, 
255-257 



Scientists, Leading Swedish, 286- 
288 

Seed growing in Denmark, 44 
Separator, De Laval, 290 
Shipbuilding in Denmark, 66, 67 
Shipping, Norwegian, 205-207 
Sickness clubs, Danish, 54, 55 
Silverware, Danish, 115 
Sinding, Christian, Music of, 166 

, Stephan, sculptor, 162 

Singers, Swedish, 257 
Siwertz, Sigfrid, novelist, 231 
Skagen Colony, The, 106-108 
Skansen, Open-air museum at, 
263, 264 

Ski-ing, national sport of Norway, 
167-172 ; military training in, 
172, 173 ; contests in, 173, 174 
Skovgaard, Joachim, religious 

painter, 112, 113 
Sledding in Norway, 171, 172 
Slesvig, Danish patriots in, 30 
Slott-Moller, Agnes, Danish artist, 
113, 114 

, Harald, Danish art- 
craftsman, 113 

Sloyd, Revival of, in Sweden, 
262-267 

Social betterment in Denmark, 

50-60 ; in Norway 128, 192 ; 

in Sweden, 281, 282 
Soderblom, N., Primate of 

Swedish Church, 217, 284 
Sohlberg, Harald, leader of new 

romanticists, 161 
Soro School, 79, 80 
South Pole, Discovery of, 201 
Soya bean industry in Denmark, 

67 

Sparre, Count Louis, etcher, 255 
Sports in Sweden, winter, 269, 

270 ; summer, 270, 271 
State ownership, in Denmark, 69 ; 

of mines in Sweden, 303 
telegraphs in Norway, 190 ; 

in Sweden, 298 
Stavanger sardines, 196 
Stave churches, 162, 163 
Steel, Swedish, 289 ; foundries 

and mills, 296 



Index 



331 



Stockholm, 216 ; architecture in, 
258-260 

Storting, The, Constitution and 
powers of, 123 ; introduced 
peoples' language into schools, 
147 

Strikes and lock-outs in Denmark, 
54 

Student life, 81, 82, 281 
Strindberg, August, Works of, 
221-225 

Sturluson, Snorri, Sagas of, 90 ; 

on ski-ing, 167, 168 
Suffrage in Sweden, 214-215 ; 

women working for the, 237, 238 
Sundbarg, Gustav, statistician, 

285 

Sundsvall, centre of wood indus- 
tries, 314 

Sweden, History, 3, 13, 14 ; land 
divisions of, 215 

Swedes in Russia, 8, 9 ; in 
America, 9, 10, 11 

Swedish Academy, The, 278, 279 

Symbolism in Norwegian litera- 
ture, 131 

Tapestries, Norwegian, 156, 164 
Taxes, Danish, 27, 28 
Telegraphs, Norwegian State, 

190 ; Swedish State, 298 
Telephone, Use of, 297, 298 
Temperament, The Swedish, 209 
Temperance in Norway, 128 ; 

new movement in Sweden, 218 
Thaulow, Frits, naturalist painter, 

153, 154 
Theatres in Denmark, 97, 98 ; in 

Sweden, 232 
Thiis, Jens, critic, 141 ; on Nor- 
wegian art, 153 ; on Edvard 

Munch, 158 
Thorvaldsen, Bertel, sculptor, 115 
Tideman, Adolph, romantic 

painter, 152, 153 
Tietgen, Carl Frederik, Danish 

financier, 69, 70 
Tourist Association, The Swedish, 

272 

Trade Unions, Danish, 51-53 



Treaty of Calmar, 233 
Trondhjem Cathedral, 163 
Turi, Johan, The Life of the Laps, 

305, 306 
Tuxen, Laurits, Danish painter, 

108 

Unemployment Clubs, Danish, 
55, 56 

Universities, Swedish, 280, 281 
University of Copenhagen, The, 
81, 82 

Uppsala, Lutheran cathedral at, 
217; University, 280; chair 
of statistics at, 285 

Valkyrias, The, 233 
Vigeland, Gustav, sculptor, 161, 
162 

Vikings, Migrations of the, 8 
Villa, colonies in Denmark, 118 
Voksenkollen, Winter sports at, 
169, 170 

Wages, in Denmark, 48 ; of 

Swedish women, 238 
Wahlmann, Lars, architect, 260 
Waterfalls, harnessed for power 

in Norway, 187-190; State 

regulations, 189 ; in Sweden, 

294, 296, 297, 299, 301 
Commission, Royal, 297, 

299 ; work of, at Porjus, 301, 

302 

Wealth, National, of Norway, 
125, 126 ; of Sweden, 220 

Werenskiold, Erik, portrait 
painter, 155, 156 

Westmann, Carl, architect, 260 

Whaling, Norwegian, 199, 200 

Wilhelmsson, Carl, painter of the 
peasant, 253 

Willumsen, Jens Ferdinand, Dan- 
ish post-impressionist, 110, 111 

Wireless communication in Nor- 
way, 190 

Woman suffrage in Denmark, 26, 
29 ; in Iceland, 31 ; in Nor- 
way, 123; in Sweden, 234, 
238 



332 



Index 



Women, Danish, 83, 84 ; Nor- 
wegian, on ski, 171 ; Swedish, 
233-240 
Wood exports, 314, 315 

industries in Sweden, 313 

— pulp, 190, 191, 314 315 
Workmen's welfare in Denmark, 
50 ; in Norway, 192 ; in 
Sweden, 218, 219 

" Yeomen's march," The, 209-211 



Yule-tide at a Danish castle, 
85-88 

Zahrtmann, Kristian, Danish 
colourist, 109 

Zander, Dr. Gustaf, medical gym- 
nastics of, 273 

Zorn, Anders, dean of Swedish 
painters, 242, 245-247 ; etcher, 
285 



THE END 



Press of Isaac Pitman & Sons, Bath, England. 
133«4) 



